By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Dealing with either hearing or vision loss can be a major adjustment for anyone. But for veterans dealing with both, the effort required to maintain an active lifestyle can be overwhelming.
With a goal of providing information and strategies to cope with vision and hearing loss, a group of area businesses and organizations have worked together to bring the first of its kind workshop to Hays on Sept. 18 at the Sternberg Museum, 3000 Sternberg, starting with vision and hearing screenings at 8 a.m.
“Basically, it’s a one-day workshop for vision- and hearing-impaired veterans, how to cope with it, what are some of the assistive technologies available, and then to identify these veterans that need the services and plug them into the resources that the VA has available,” said Hays optometrist Dr. Kendall Krug.
Both vision and hearing services are available at the VA hospital in Wichita, but services available at the local clinics are much more limited.
“Unfortunately, those are not available at the local clinic,” Krug said. “So a couple of years ago, the vision services coordinator in Wichita, a man by the name of Bob Hamilton, approached me with the idea of having a workshop in Hays.
“We have had low vision fairs and things like that in the past, but never in conjunction with the agencies that will be involved in this program,” he said. “The twist we put in is the Lions Club to utilize their special screening bus that the Lion’s Sight Foundation has available.”
“The Lions’ Club has always supported vision, that’s been our main push for years,” said Jim Huenergarde, second vice president of the Hays Lion’s Club. “With the grant that the Lions Club applied for here in Hays, we were able to put together the funding to bring this seminar into Hays and to be able to bring this mobile screening unit out.”
A nationally known trainer from the Helen Keller National Center in Atlanta will present the seminars during the workshop, Krug said.
”They are the presenters. This is their program,” he said. “They are the experts in combined hearing and vision impairment.
“It’s an interesting tie in having the Lions involved because Helen Keller was the person that got the Lions Club tied into vision impairment back in 1924,” Krug said. “She asked the Lions to be the ‘knights of the blind,’ that’s why the center is named after her.”
With the screenings available before the workshop begins, Krug said he hopes participants will have a better understanding of their individual needs.
“Our thought was it would be nice for the veterans going in to know, am I mildly impaired, or do I have a moderate impairment, and then as they go through the workshop, they are going to have a better idea of which resources they need to get plugged into,” Krug said.
In conjunction with Krug, the Lions Club, the Helen Keller National Institute and the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, Fort Hays State University’s Communication Sciences and Disorders and Leadership Studies Departments will provide services during the event.
The Ellis County Ministerial Alliance, Northwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging, the Blinded Veterans Association, Independent Living Center of Northwestern Kansas and the Hays Senior Center will also be involved with the event.
Following the screenings, the workshop will be in a classroom setting with sessions that focus on dealing with hearing and vision loss, assistive technology available resources in Kansas, and grants that are available to those in need.
The event will be limited at around 50 people and participants are asked to register by Sept. 9, if possible.
To sign up or for more information, contact Huenergarde at 785-650-7338 or [email protected].