VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Navy Veteran Bob Bliss talks about his guide dog, Toma, to a pre-school class in Easthampton, Mass. With Bliss is Keilli Jarosz, coordinator of the VA Central Western Massachusetts Visual Impaired Services Team. The visit to the pre-school was a great way for the young children to learn about the lives of the blind and visually impaired. White Cane Day will be recognized Oct. 14 at VA Central Western Mass.

White Cane Day Information Fair

When: Friday, Oct. 14, 2011, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: The Learning Center, Building 1, VA Medical Center, Leeds, Mass.

This information fair is available for all individuals interested in learning about blindness and low vision.  Information on devices and techniques available to blind people will be available, including information on magnifiers and computers.  For more information, contact Kelli Jarosz, Visual Impairment Services Team coordinator, at (413) 584-4040, ext. 2058

EASTHAMPTON, Mass., Oct. 7 -- When Bob Bliss was in the Navy from 1965 to 1967, he started having problems with his vision, but, at the time of his discharge, programs to help blind people and certainly programs for Veterans were furthest from his mind.

“You’re handed a sea bag and a fist full of twenties and that’s the way it was,” Bliss remembers.   “There are so many great programs available today.”

Bliss, who has been legally blind since 1988, said he didn’t know about VA programs to help blind Veterans until much later.

(NOTE: Go here to the WWLP 22News Program MASSAPPEAL for a segment on White Cane Day and hear from Bob Bliss, Kelli Jarosz, and see Bob's guide dog, Toma).

He enrolled with VA health care in 1999 after an experience at a music festival in Connecticut when he was having problems seeing and a gentleman next to him took one look at Bliss and told Bliss he had retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye condition that leads to incurable blindness.

“’How did you know that?’” Bliss recalls asking the man.  “’Because I work at the VA in West Haven, Connecticut.’”  Bliss said was the response.  The VA employee, who was a blind rehabilitation specialist at the VA’s Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center, got Bliss an immediate appointment, and Bliss said he has seen VA specialists ever since.

“The VA has been excellent, and we’re very fortunate as Veterans to have such good facilities across the nation,” said Bliss, who retired from his job as a testman with Verizon, in 1991.

Now, he’s a dedicated member of the Ambassador Program with VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System in Leeds.

Kelli Jarosz, the coordinator of the system’s Visual Impaired Services Team, started the program for members of her VIST team as a way to educate civic groups and young people about blindness and to encourage veterans to seek out VA health care. 

“The services the VA has to offer our visually impaired Veterans are amazing,” said Jarosz. “The VA is able to provide high quality care enabling visually impaired Veterans to acquire the skills and capabilities necessary for the development of personal independence. Bob and other visually impaired Veterans are excellent ambassadors because they have benefited directly from blind rehabilitation services.” 

On Friday, one week before the VIST program commemorates “White Cane Day,” Jarosz, Bliss, and Bliss’ guide dog, Toma, were ambassadors at a pre-school in Easthampton.

The visit to the pre-school was a great way for the young children to learn about the lives of the blind and visually impaired.

The children were instantly fond of Toma, a black Labrador retriever, and asked Bliss lots of questions, from “how does Toma pick up things?” and “does Toma like to go swimming in the pool?” to “how did Toma learn how to cross the road?”

The last question, is a particularly important one, Bliss said, because it gets to the heart of why October is Meet the Blind Month and that Oct. 15 has been proclaimed as White Cane Day across the nation. This Friday, Oct. 14, VA Central Western Massachusetts will hold a special event to recognize White Cane Day.

Sometimes when people are confronted with a person with visual impairments, they don’t know how to react, Bliss says.

And sometimes they don't even know the purpose of the white canes. White cane laws require traffic to stop to allow the person carrying it to cross the street.

That includes both white canes and guide dogs, and it means they can cross not only at an intersection but at any point.

Bliss told the pre-schoolers that Toma’s training taught the dog how to look both ways, to listen for traffic, and to wait for it to be safe before crossing – the same tips children are given in pre-school.

“He knows to always stop, look and listen for approaching cars,” Bliss told the children.  “I have to trust him, and I know he is very, very attentive.”

For further information about VA programs about visually impaired Veterans or to enroll in the VIST program, contact the VIST Coordinator, Kelli Jarosz at 413-584-4040 ext 2058.