AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – For veterans, life after leaving the military can be difficult, and one of the obstacles is vision loss.
But the Augusta Department of Veterans Affairs has announced a new podcast to help veterans with vision problems.
The show is called “Blind Vet: Now What?” and is hosted by Rebecca Foley and Ashley Boyer, blind rehabilitation specialists at the Veterans Administration.
“There are going to be veterans who come in and say I wish I had known this 20 years ago, because I've been through so much for 20 years,” Boyer said.
The podcast discusses timely issues affecting veterans with vision loss and gives veterans with visual impairments and the medical professionals who work with them an opportunity to share their experiences.
The podcast released its first episode on February 7, but the idea has been in the works since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We're doing health screenings, but the hospitals are closed and we don't have veteran patients. We never thought of that. We looked at ways we could do something for veterans. “I was doing it,” Boyer said.
Veterans gain a variety of skills and experiences while in combat, and Boyer said one of the goals of the podcast is to help veterans prepare for the next chapter of their lives after graduation. states.
“They want to know what new things are going on, if someone has moved elsewhere, things like that,” Boyer said. “So I thought it would be a really good opportunity to be able to talk to veterans instead of talking to them, because I think the government often does that.”
Boyer, who has been providing blind rehabilitation services for nearly 15 years, said another of their goals is to explain what blind rehabilitation is.
“It not only exists within the VA, but it exists outside in the civilian world, and people don't know it exists. So they can get services and they don't know about it. , he would wander around with very poor eyesight and have a very hard time doing anything,” Boyer said.
Will Martin, communications director, said the podcast offers a way to step outside the box and reach a community of veterans that doesn't get a lot of attention.
“It's going to give them an audience that's specific to them, a program that's specific to them. So they feel valued by the fact that we're focusing on a specific community.” But this is not just an Augusta issue, it has the potential to reach a broader audience,” Martin said.
The podcast already has listeners from all over the country, and Boyer said he wants to help veterans and civilians alike gain valuable insight.
“They know a lot of information, but they always say they don't know what they don't know. This is another way we try to help them learn what they need to know. , also from other people who have had the experience and walked in their shoes,” Boyer said.
“The Blind Veterinarian: Now What?” has just released Part 1 of its third episode. This episode features a veteran who goes back to school to become a Veterans Blind Rehabilitation instructor after experiencing vision loss himself.
Boyer said part two of that episode will be this Tuesday, March 19th.
If you want to watch it, check out “Blind Vet: Now What?” Podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon podcast platforms.
