On this episode during Black History Month, we’re examining how diseases commonly found among African Americans can impact eyes. After that, hear feedback about the recent monarch teacher and professional training.
On this podcast (In order of appearance)
Additional Links
On this episode during Black History Month, we’re examining how diseases commonly found among African Americans can impact eyes. After that, hear feedback about the recent monarch teacher and professional training.
On this podcast (In order of appearance)
Additional Links
<silence> Welcome to Change Makers , a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.
Sara Brown:Hello and welcome to Change Makers . I'm APH's Public Relations Manager, Sara Brown . And on today's episode, during Black History Month, we're examining how health can impact your eyes. After that, we're going to hear feedback about the recent Monarch teacher and professional training. Up first, it's amazing to learn about how one's health can impact eyes. Three health ailments common among African Americans include hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, and diabetes. The other is glaucoma. All of these diseases can cause devastating and long lasting damage to the eyes. Here to talk about health and eye care is Dr. Joern Soltau. Dr. Soltau is an ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist. He's also the chair of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Hello, Dr. Soltau, and welcome to Change Makers .
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, wonderful. It's great to be here.
Sara Brown:So for my first question, can you just introduce yourself and share what it is that you do?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, I'm, my name is , uh, Dr. Joern Soltau. I'm an ophthalmologist, and my specialty within ophthalmology is glaucoma and cataracts. And my position currently is I'm the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Sara Brown:And for my next question, I always just love to hear the background story. Can you just share how you got into your profession?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well , um, in , in , in medicine, in in medical school, I , I've just found it very interesting, the eye that you actually see what's going on. You can look inside the eye, you can see the retina, and it's, it's, it's, and then also it's very , you do something with your hands. You operate and you see patients in the office and in the operating room. So that, that's what attracted me to the specialty.
Sara Brown:Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing how you got into your profession. It's always just such interesting stories I've heard. Now this podcast is about health and eye care and common health ailments that are, that have a high occurrence in among African Americans include high blood pressure , um, also known as hypertension, diabetes, and glaucoma. Let's just start off the top. Can you just explain what high blood pressure is?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, high blood pressure is that the, you know, the, the, the pressure in our arteries , uh, from the heart is too high. And there , there are many different causes why that is. But some of the, the , the arteries narrow and the resistance of flow increases and that the blood pressure increases for the blood to go be being pumped throughout the body. And it's actually quite common , um, in African Americans. At least 45% have high blood pressure. Uh, in non-Hispanic whites, it's less about 30, 35%. Caucasians also around 30%. It's quite common, especially in African Americans. And then as you have chronic blood pressure , uh, the blood vessels and arteries, they harden and narrow, and then the blood flow actually decreases to the end organs and also decrease the blood flow to the eye decreases. So there is then , uh, less oxygen going to the inside of the eye, especially to the retina where the light is being detected and that that damages the retina and can cause, can cause problems.
Sara Brown:So the high blood pressure causes what? A lack of oxygen to the eyes and then the damage occurs. Is that how that works?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Lack of oxygen, and it often is combined, actually, that is was your second topic. With diabetes, it often comes in combination. Uh , diabetes, it's affects about 10% of the population have diabetes. And again, in African American, it's about 60% higher than in , in the , the , the than , than in other groups. And diabetes also affects blood vessels. You know, the high blood diabetes means that the blood sugar in is level is high, and that affects small blood vessels and also causes dropout of small blood vessels and also leads to ischemia. And then that leads to swelling of the retina in the back eye and lack of oxygen. And then you can, you know , that, that causes blindness. So the combination of both of those,
Sara Brown:And I'm sure in your profession, you've treated patients that are having eye issues , stemming from their, their diabetes or their high blood pressure. What is it like to treat those patients?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, the main thing is that things just get blurry. I mean, you, you know, normal visual acuity is 20/20 and then slowly decreases 22, 30, 20 40, 20 50 until if you , if it's not treated, that you can actually , uh, become legally blind. So it , it's mainly that you, things are not in focus anymore. They get blurry, and then you have trouble reading, trouble driving, and eventually it can lead , uh, lead to legal blindness.
Sara Brown:Okay. And if a person is losing their sight due to diabetes or the high blood pressure that can't be treated, the sight loss can't be treated with corrective lenses?
Dr. Joern Soltau:It cannot be corrected , uh, with lenses? No, the , the , the , the , the way to address this is one, to correct the blood sugar , sugar level to , to, and the , um, and the high blood pressure. So to , uh, start medications that the blood pressure level is lower, and then medications that the blood sugar level is lower, that's on the patient's side, and then the ophthalmologist can do , um, injections into the eye and also laser treatment to, to help with ischemia and increase the blood flow, blood flow and restore vision.
Sara Brown:Wow. So it really all does go back to your overall health and how it impacts your eyes, which is the, the topic of this podcast. So hopefully we're hitting the nail on the head for some of our listeners out there. Now, for my next question, another eye disease that's prevalent among African Americans is glaucoma. Can you talk about what that is and what are some of the symptoms?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, for one, glaucoma is actually the leading cause of irreversible blindness. The leading cause of blindness is cataracts, but that can be reversed by doing cataract surgery. But glaucoma is something that cannot be reversed. If it's not treated, and it's a condition where the eye pressure is too high, there's always fluid being secreted to the inside of the eye to bring nutrients to the inside to keep the eye a little bit under pressure so the eyeball doesn't collapse. So the optical dimension stays stable. That fluid that's being secreted into the eye has to drain out of the eye so that there's a constant turnover of fluid with glaucoma, those fine pores, the where the fluid drains out, they clog up. So the fluid secretes into the eye, but cannot drain out properly. So the pressure builds up inside the eye, and then that pushes on the optic nerve in the back of the eye and causes damage. So if you leave glaucoma untreated, the pressure stays up, that damages the optic nerve, and you lose your connection from the eye to the brain, and you basically basically go blind.
Sara Brown:Okay. So when I go to the eye doctor and they stick what looks like, I don't know, a contact on a stick in my eye that's checking my eye pressure, correct?
Dr. Joern Soltau:That's correct. That's to check the eye pressure. So, and , and glaucoma and the , the , the , the , the what's important to know about glaucoma, you know, yes, you eventually go blind if you don't treat it, but the patient doesn't really realize what's going on until it's very late, because it, it progresses very, very, very slowly and your brain adjusts to that kind of new vision. If you don't see that well in one area, in one eye, the , the , the , the , the brain kind of puts images from both eyes together, and you don't notice that something's wrong until very late into the disease. So, but the important thing therefore, is to detect it early, to have an eye exam, check the eye pressure, look into the eye , see if there's any damage to the optic nerve, and then either follow the patient if everything's okay, or start treatment to lower the eye pressure. And luckily, there's good treatment out there to lower the eye pressure. The first treatment is, is eyedrops. There are many different eyedrops that you can use once a day, twice a day to lower the eye pressure. And then if eyedrops are not enough, then there's also laser treatment to, to open up the pores where the fluid's draining out. But if laser's not enough, then there's also surgery that you actually make a totally new drain so that the fluid can leave the eye.
Sara Brown:Wow, this is such really good information to know. Um, then my next question, is there anything else you would like to share regarding eyecare health or anything with UofL Health?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, important is regular eye exams. Again , uh, and know if you have hypertension, if you have diabetes, you at least need an annual eye exam to make sure that with the eyes, everything is okay. If you have , um, someone in your family with glaucoma, you need to have an eye exam to make sure that you're not at risk or that you don't have it. So , uh, so that , that's why it's important. And then also in , in general, what I tell my patients, if they, if they ask me what can I do? One important thing is wear sunglasses when you go outside, don't smoke , um, eat green leafy vegetables, antioxidants, that's very important for in general health, but also for eye health.
Sara Brown:So it really does go back to your overall health and what you're eating and making those healthy choices. And sometimes those healthy choices, choices aren't fun, but you know, it's for your overall health, which impacts every part of your body and most notably your eyes. Is there anything else you would like to share, or are there any new findings or studies going on in your field?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, the, what one other really important eye disease that causes vision loss is macular degeneration. And there, it's, there are new treatments coming almost every month, medications , uh, to treat macular degeneration. It's not as easily treated as glaucoma or cataracts, but still there is treatment out now and again, you need to be followed regularly. See if you have any signs of macular degeneration. You know, it's back to the degeneration is a condition that affects the, the center of our vision right in the center. And then there's medications, again, it's injections into the eye that helps keep that at bay and not progress . So that , that's the , the latest that's going on .
Sara Brown:So is that inflammation of the eye that they're trying to get rid of with those treatments?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Well, inflammation seems to be part of it. We don't fully understand how it develops, but it's somehow the retina is damaged, changes the hemorrhages. It's not , has nothing to do with with blood pressure or diabetes, it's to totally separate, but we don't , but we don't know the exact cause of it.
Sara Brown:Now, do you have anything to share about cataracts?
Dr. Joern Soltau:Cataract, is that the lens inside the eye? There's inside the eye there's a lens, like in a camera that focuses the image in the back of the eye. Yeah. But that lens becomes cloudy. We call it cataract. And the name cataract is actually interesting where it comes from when the cataract gets really dense, it turns white. And the ancient Greeks thought that there was some bad humor flowing down across your vision and obscuring your vision. And that's why it's called "cataract," because cataract, the cataract of nines like a rapids on a river whitewater, that's the Latin name for that cataract. So that's where the name comes from. They , you know, they thought that there was spa humor, like water flowing across your vision. And then, you know, when we take the cataract out, we, there are different ways. One is to break the lens into with, into small pieces with ultrasound and suck it and irrigate it out, or break it up with laser and irrigate it out. So those are the two main, main , main methods to, to remove the lens. And then you put a lens implant in to get the eye back in focus.
Sara Brown:This has been such an informative podcast and learning about all of this. This is such great stuff. Um, my final question I wanna ask you before I let you go is, do you have anything else you would like to share or say? Um, it can be about some of the topics we discussed. Anything.. It's yours.
Dr. Joern Soltau:The only thing I wanna say is that I'm very grateful for your organization, American Printing House for the Blind, for the service that you, you all provide for the community here in Louisville, in the state of Kentucky, in the United States and across the world to help our community patients with visual impairment to have a more fulfilled life and that they can function better and have a more , uh, enjoyable and fulfilled life. And actually, one of our colleagues, Dr . One of my colleagues, Dr. Charles Barr, he's on the, the board of the American Printing House of the Blind.
Sara Brown:Yes, he sure is on our board of directors. Dr. Soltau, thank you so much for coming on Change Makers and talking to me about health, overall health and eye health . It's been a wonderful discussion.
Dr. Joern Soltau:Very good. It was a pleasure. Thank you. Bye.
Sara Brown:I've put links in the Show Notes about high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and more in the show notes. Now we're gonna shift to learn about the recent Monarch training at ATIA. I have APH's Leslie Weilbacher and Jeff Schwartz here to tell us more. Hello, Jeff and Leslie .
Leslie Weilbacher:Hi. Thanks.
Jeff Schwartz:Hello, Sara, nice to be here.
Sara Brown:And from the top, I always like to ask, can you just introduce yourself and share what it is that you do here at APH?
Leslie Weilbacher:Sure. So I'm Leslie Weilbacher. I'm the outreach specialist for the Northwest region of the us . Uh, I do a lot of , uh, teacher training, teacher support. Uh, I, I , uh, was, participated a lot on the, the Monarch team here building out these , um, trainings.
Jeff Schwartz:And my name is Jeff Schwartz and I'm the Director of Regional Training and Outreach. Um, prior to my role as director, I was also a regional specialist for the Southeast , um, part of the LIFT for this Monarch training. Our whole entire team was engaged for, well , probably over eight months now in content development and the creation of resources and materials and webinars all around and to support the Monarch mission.
Sara Brown:Okay. And you two were both recently at ATIA. Can you just talk about what that conference is and what you all did there?
Jeff Schwartz:Sure. So ATIA is actually an acronym for the Assistive Technology Industry Industry Association. Um, it's been around for many years and it's a really large international event where they pull together at manufacturers, developers, and resellers. And they offer a lot of , um, opportunities for professional development and training on the , a large variety of assistive, not technology, not just specific the visual impairments, but inclusive of inclusive of that. Um, they also offer opportunities for pre-conferences. So , um, where our role was for my team was we actually had a two day pre-conference attached to the , you know, ATIA for the purposes of, you know, bringing professionals together and being able to present on our newest development, the multi-line Braille, refreshable Braille display, which is known as the Monarch.
Sara Brown:So talk to us about the recent training at ATIA.
Leslie Weilbacher:Sure. So this, this was actually a multi-step process here. We had , uh, an application that , uh, that went out nationwide. Uh , those that we selected through that process then had pre requirements to come to these trainings. Uh, and , uh, after completing the training, we have homework for them. So <laugh> , we had 41 teachers and assistive technology professionals from around the country at this training. We went over the basics of the device. We went over some of the , uh, tips and tricks for troubleshooting, and then we really got to dive into how it could be used in the classroom with a student in different scenarios. People really, <laugh> got excited about the , uh, the tactile graphics capability, being able to jump into the tactile graphics image library, the TGIL and search for things on the fly. Uh, and then of course, the graphing calculator where you can input an equation and feel your graph in real time just blew people away. Uh, in fact, it was, it was so much fun. I, I had to put on my, my, my teacher voice and say, okay, sit on your hands for a minute and listen before we move forward. <laugh> , it's like a
Sara Brown:True teacher <laugh> .
Leslie Weilbacher:That's great. <laugh>
Sara Brown:Now. Um, so that's great. People were excited that that sounds like the reception. I mean, who isn't excited to see something like the Monarch, but what were, what were some of the thoughts expressed from the teachers and professionals during the trainings?
Jeff Schwartz:So , uh, Sara, it was actually pretty exciting. You know, our team had a lot of nerves going into this. This was our, our kickoff launch of this training opportunity. So we were , um, you know, we were confident in our ability to pull this off, but it's always a lot more intimidating when you come down right down to, and how is the experience gonna be? What I can tell you one of the things that stood out for me immediately after the end of day one, which of course seemed very long to us , um, I was approached by one of the participants who was just lit up with excitement and said that she was, she couldn't believe that after spending a whole day , uh, you know, with intense training and hands on this tool that she's like, "typically when I do a full day conference, I am exhausted at the end of the day." And she's like, "I have never felt so energized at the end of a, at the end of a training day. I just can't wait to get back to my room and play on this device and learn more about it on my own and get prepared for day two." Um, so that was super exciting to hear after a very long, exhausting day and getting set up the day before. So I , I actually felt, I think our whole team felt energized with comments like that. I do have a couple of quotes that we received from some participants, so I'd like to share if possible. Yeah , so
Sara Brown:Absolutely, go ahead.
Jeff Schwartz:So one quote that we received , but from our participant , Melissa , "is it's such an honor and a privilege to have been part of this pilot training. I think we all had our doubts prior to the training about the efficiency of this device and are all leaving knowing that this is really the future for our students. It makes me so happy to see we are one step closer to closing the gap between our students with visual impairments and the sighted world." And I have one other quote if you would , uh, entertain me, I would like to share as well. Sure,
Sara Brown:Go right on ahead.
Jeff Schwartz:"This training has been the most amazing experience in my 38 years. Everything was wonderful. The instructors were stellar, and it was such an honor to be here and be part of the biggest development in the field in my lifetime. Thank you for the amazing food, the thoughtful graduation, and all of the joy and vision you shared. I will do my best to pay it forward. You are now a part of every lesson I ever teach in every life I touch. And, you know, it doesn't get much better than that." Mm-Hmm.
Leslie Weilbacher:<affirmative>
Sara Brown:How heartwarming and how , what, how does that make you all feel hearing that feedback? You know, you put in all this time and energy and effort. How does that feel to hear that?
Leslie Weilbacher:So validating <laugh>?
Jeff Schwartz:Yes . Uh , this was a huge undertaking for our team. You know, we are , um, we, we certainly strive to put , to put on great training whenever we , whatever it is that we're doing. But this was a massive undertaking and this product is still under development. So, you know, it has been the, you know, seven months of blood, sweat, and tears going into this activity leading up to, you know, the pinnacle being this opportunity to start training the folks around the country. And it is, yes, like that , uh, Leslie said it was really validating to know that all of these efforts were so well received and, and we really pulled off what we were hoping to do and, and look even better than we had anticipated.
Sara Brown:Exactly. Now, what's next for teacher training in the Mon in the Monarch?
Jeff Schwartz:That's an excellent question. So this was the first, as I mentioned of this, was our pilot launch of our Monarch Masters trainings. So as part of this mission, we are, you know, trying to place approximately 170 units around the country, you know, through this , um, pro application process. We were really trying to get it into a variety of professional hands around the country to gain the most feedback and experience from great professionals from around our country. Um, so what we have now coming is we have four additional trainings throughout the spring , um, that are gonna be located in various sites around the country. So where we are scheduled to be doing this through, we start as early as March in Baltimore, Maryland. Then we will have Austin, Texas , um, Los Angeles, California, and we're wrapping our trainings up in Chicago, Illinois, right at the end of April. So we have a , a busy spring ahead of us.
Sara Brown:And then I always like to ask this final question. Is there anything else you would like to share? Anything?
Leslie Weilbacher:Well, I think if people are interested in, in the journey towards the Monarch , uh, specifically around Tactile Graphics Literacy, we did , uh, put together a four-part webinar series on, on just that. And that can be found on the APH YouTube channel.
Jeff Schwartz:Yeah. And I would also add , um, you know, right now it is a closed community that we are working with and you know, part of engaging participants from our field around the country is to build a community. And so we will be launching this advice hopefully this fourth quarter of the year with lots of content, pre-developed lessons, great quotes and great ideas to be shared with professionals as they begin their own journeys. Um, so I will encourage folks to stay tuned for more information through communications at APH and we'll be watching the hive of APH Hive, which we are already building. A professional learning community, as I mentioned, is closed right now. But our goal is at the time of launch, we should have a really robust community to support each other around the country with great ideas and great lessons. And we are all really, really excited about this opportunity and the future that it's gonna open up for our students around the country.
Sara Brown:Awesome. Well, Leslie and Jeff, thank you so much for coming on Change Makers today.
Leslie Weilbacher:Absolutely. Happy to . Thank you.
Jeff Schwartz:For having us. Yeah.
Sara Brown:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Change Makers. In addition to the health and eyecare links in the show notes, I've also put links to Monarch information in there as well. And something new this year, if you have any suggestions for podcast topics, I wanna know, shoot me an email at changemakers@aph.org. That's Changemakers@APH.Org. As always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.