CIIR adheres to ‘April Marrom’ and emphasizes eye health monitoring

In awareness month with a focus on the prevention and rehabilitation of eye pathologies, the Integrated Center for Inclusion and Rehabilitation (CIIR), in Belém, joins the national “Abril Marrom” campaign, ensuring the right to public health services for the population of Pará. , an act that reinforces the commitment to the quality of life of people with visual impairments assisted by the institution.

The center highlights that blindness or low vision is a consequence of a cause that is most often treatable, when diagnosed early. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60% to 80% of blindness cases are preventable.

According to Maria Maeve, ophthalmologist at CIIR, before vision problems are noticed, an annual preventive consultation with an ophthalmologist should be sought, even in the absence of symptoms.

“It is known that 20% of cases are irrecoverable. That’s why it’s so important to worry about prevention. This needs to be part of people’s routine, from childhood and extends through all stages of life, as there are diseases that evolve asymptomatically, many of which are silent, showing no symptoms in the early stages, thus detecting them early prevents vision loss”, observes the doctor.

Among the most common causes of preventable blindness in Brazil are cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. “Other diseases cause blindness and low vision in childhood, irreversibly, for example, Congenital Ocular Toxoplasmosis; Retinopathy of Prematurity; and Congenital Glaucoma”, informs the ophthalmologist.

The professional emphasizes that when diagnosed with Congenital Cataracts, surgery can be performed and there is a good chance of recovery depending on how early the diagnosis is made. All ocular pathologies must be examined by an ophthalmologist”, he adds.

Diagnosed with Congenital Glaucoma, the rehabilitated Victor Calado, aged 2, has been undergoing follow-up with the support of visual stimulation therapy for just over five months and even in a short time, his mother, Silviane Vitória, aged 33, celebrates the progress of the son.

“He began monitoring at the CIIR, carrying out visual rehabilitation with stimuli, which was very important to improve my son’s quality of life. In the beginning, the motor development part was delayed and, now, we already see a very significant gain in this matter. Today, with the support of therapies, Victor no longer bumps into objects at home. It’s incredible how he developed. Regarding the date, it is very important that we emphasize the topic by disseminating information to society and raising awareness about cornea donation; a gesture that generates a ‘new life’, especially for children”, highlights the mother.

To begin the achievement of development, Nina Silva, occupational therapist who leads the boy’s activities, points out that she is currently stimulating fixation and the visual segment, which generally uses resources with contrast and/or brightness that is for the rehabilitated person to respond. at different light levels.

“From there we move resources to see if it can keep up with the movements. He can even respond to contrast signs; Currently it has a better response when using light. At times, light is used, at others, without, to see if he can respond to both forms of stimuli.”

The professional adds that by continuing to follow therapy commands, Victor may be able to locate himself in the environment with more autonomy in the future.

“According to what his mother tells us, Victor is already able to move around functionally at home, for his age and diagnosis, he is well advanced, but if you don’t stimulate him, he may have more difficulty in the future. in carrying out these day-to-day activities. So, it is shared monitoring work between the professional team and the family for the rehabilitation of the patient.”

CIIR is a reference in Pará in providing medium and high complexity assistance to People with Visual, Physical, Hearing and Intellectual Disabilities (PwDs). Users can have access to the Center’s services, through referral from health units, hosted by the Regulation Center of each municipality, which in turn forwards it to State Regulation. The request will be analyzed according to the user’s profile by the State Regulation System (SER).

Service: The CIIR is a body of the Government of Pará administered by the National Institute for Social and Human Development (INDSH), in partnership with the State Secretariat of Public Health (Sespa). The Center operates on Arthur Bernardes highway, no. 1000, in Belém. More information: (91) 4042.2157 / 58 / 59.