Amman- 14 September 2019
The Vision Rehabilitation Center (VRC) at German Jordanian University (GJU) had a valuable visit from pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Lea Hyvärinen on September 4, 2019.
This honorable visit to the GJU Vision Rehabilitation Center came upon her request to know more about the services for persons with visual impairment and the development of the Vision Rehabilitation Center since the last time she was in Jordan.
The VRC team took her on a tour at the center, explaining all the services that are offered for persons with visual impairment as community services.
These services including functional vision assessment, offering the suitable Low vision devices for each service user, training on these devices and visual skills and finally giving advice about the needed environmental accommodations for each case.
In addition, she was introduced to the early intervention services that are offered by the team for children with visual impairment and other disabilities.
On the other hand, Dr. Hyvärinen expressed her appreciation to the courses that are offered at the VRC about Vision Rehabilitation for the specialist all around the world who are interested to serve people with low vision and offer the needed rehabilitation services for them.
She mentioned that the center is one of the very few centers that have continued its work effectively and professionally for serving people with low vision, spread the awareness among community and specialists in the region, she also emphasized that she values the care for the assessment tools and maintaining the validity of them even after long periods of use.
The VRC team spent around three hours having very productive and fruitful discussions with Dr. Lea about Vision rehabilitation. She encouraged the VRC team to continue the hard work in serving the community and people with low vision.
About Dr. Hyvärinen:
· PHD in Experimental fluorescein angiography
· Research Fellow at Wilmer Institute to start and run the first clinical fluorescein angiography service.
· Residency with a research group at the Institute of Physiology at University of Helsinki on visual deprivation studies of monkeys.
· Ophthalmologist and Chief of Low Vision Clinic, Central Association for the Blind and then Consultant of the Low vision Clinic.
· Dr. Hyvärinen was a member of the task group that planned teaching at the Nordic Staff Training Centre for Deafblind Services (NUD) and lectured in ophthalmology at the Centre
· Consultant and member of 2 groups in development of health services and special education in Finland; in Europe.
· Lecturing in 70 countries and helping to create low vision services from 1984 - 2019.
· Advisor to WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to develop Vision Rehabilitation 2003-2006.
· Dr. Hyvärinen is best known for the LH Vision Test System, now known as LEA TEST VISION SYSTEM. The LH Symbols tests (now referred to as LEASYMBOLS® tests) are used for assessment of vision in children became popular for vision screening.