P.E.I. optometrist goes mobile to serve care homes in Prince County

An Island optometrist has gone mobile, providing on-site eye exams at long-term and community care homes across western P.E.I..

Jessica Wood started the pilot project in April with a $37,580 provincial grant. Since then, she has provided almost 100 eye exams across Prince County.

"The patients are often very happy to have gotten an eye exam, especially because many of them haven't had an eye exam in a couple of years, or five, or 10, or even 20."

Wood said she got the idea for the service while working in her office.

Island Morning6:33P.E.I. optometrist offers a mobile eye exam service to some seniors

A P.E.I. optometrist has been visiting long-term care homes in western P.E.I. to offer on-site eye care. We chatted with Dr. Jessica Wood to see how the initiative is going.

She said she sees many patients from long-term and community care who struggle to come to her.

"And when I see a person who has mobility issues, whether … they use a wheelchair or they use a walker, I often think to myself, 'It would have been so much easier for me to go to you, than it was for you to come to me.'"

Wood had no idea how many people might be interested in the initiative.

"I was hoping that it would just be somebody, that somebody would benefit from this. And, in some of the homes we've been to, I've seen more than half of the residents.

"It has been fantastic and better than I ever could have imagined when I dreamed up this project," Wood said.

Promoting vision health

Wood said now even more residents in these homes are looking to take part. "At every home I've been to there's been a significant uptake," she said.

According to the province, people living in long-term and community care are among the most vulnerable when it comes to vision health. Wood said the main reason for vision loss isn't hard to remedy.

"The No. 1 cause of vision loss is either not wearing glasses when you should be, or wearing the improper glasses, and that is so easily fixable."

She hopes the program can continue long after this first phase.

"Coming in to do eye exams once is great, but kind of doing this — visiting back yearly or every other year to get some kind of continuity of care — I think would be even better."

Wood said appointments can be booked through the Prince County Mobile Eye Exam Services Facebook page, or by phone.