‘Losing your sight is like a bereavement ...but we are on that journey with you’
Sight-loss charity worker on reward of helping those most in need
It’s no wonder Katrina Campbell enjoys her role, because for the last five years she has been helping veterans who have lost their sight to regain their quality of life.
The rehabilitation officer started with vision-loss charity Sight Scotland Veterans in September 2017. It was an important time for the cause, as it coincided with the opening of the new centre in Hawkhead, Paisley.
Today, Katrina attends the centre, works from home and goes on home visits helping people with visual impairments, who have served in the Armed Forces at any point in their lives. She, and the rehabilitation team, provide a whole range of practical and emotional support.
Many of the people Katrina visits are at the beginning of their sight loss journey, and feeling alone and isolated.
But Katrina, and her colleagues at Sight Scotland Veterans, step in and help them to gain their own independence again.
She said: “A former colleague I worked with at Falkirk Council went to Sight Scotland Veterans years ago, and always spoke about how it was expanding and developing new services. It sounded amazing.”
Visiting veterans in their home, and seeing many of them struggling can take its toll on Katrina, but she knows that, over time, with help from the charity, they will regain the ability to enjoy many of the things they loved doing before losing their sight.
Katrina explained: “Sight loss can happen to any of us – and it can happen overnight. One in 12 of us will become sight impaired by the time we are 60.
“I love my job, it’s absolutely fabulous, and every day is different.
“I visit people in their home and conduct an assessment, to identify what they are struggling with and how they can take control of their lives again. Our aim is to help them to get their independence back.
“To see people who became trapped in their home get their life back and take control of the situation is the best part of my job.”
As one of Sight Scotland Veterans’ rehabilitation officers, it is Katrina’s job to assess for and issue life-changing equipment. She also trains veterans on how to use different mobility aids like long canes and creates safe mobility routes to the shops.
She added: “We are fortunate at Sight Scotland Veterans because we have a healthy equipment budget, so can provide handheld magnifiers and electronic magnifiers that take away glare or help to control it, to CCTV magnifiers (large electronic magnifiers) that allow people to read their own mail again. These CCTV screens can magnify hospital appointments, bills or bank statements so people get their privacy again and no longer need to rely on friends or family.
“We also issue synaptic mobile phones that can be used as an electronic reader or magnifier and they even have a colour detector so users can check what colour of shoes they have put on. We work closely with our veterans to identify the right aids to meet their needs.”
Most people take time to adjust to a sight loss or visual impairment diagnosis, Katrina explained, so it is important that they are given the help they need as soon as possible.
This is why Sight Scotland Veterans has launched an advertising campaign, so more people are aware of the charity’s good work (and the emotional and practical support they provide), as well as the number of social activities available at its two centres, in the hope that more people will contact them or recommend help to others.
Katrina knows the significant impact sight loss can have on people and their lives, as well as the lives of their family members, she explained: “It is a terrible shock to the system to receive the news from your ophthalmologist that there is nothing more they can do, and that you will need to be registered sight impaired or severely sight impaired (formerly known as partially sighted/blind). It is like a bereavement – because you can go through similar stages: denial, anger, grief and then acceptance.
“Being visually impaired can be very lonely, as friends and family will never know what you are going through on a daily basis – we actually work with families to give them a taste of visual impairment, and ask them to wear glasses that would replicate what someone with, for example, diabetic retinopathy would see. This provides a small understanding of the difficulties of living with some of the most common causes of sight loss.
“When we do our assessments, people realise they are not alone, and we will be with them through the journey.
“And those who have lost their sight soon discover, there is very little they can’t do that they used to be able to do, apart from driving. It’s all about finding a different way of doing things,” added Katrina.
Sight Scotland Veterans, which was called Scottish War Blinded until it changed its name in 2020, was set up in 1915 to help people who lost their sight, or sustained a visual impairment, during National Service.
Today, it is there for anyone who has served in the Armed Forces and has lost all, or part of, their sight – whatever the reason. Veterans who already benefit from the charity by attending one of the centres, speak of the camaraderie, the inter-service banter and the
lack of judgment.