World War II Army veteran Orville Swett of Port Orange, Fla., has seen a lot in his life.
The Purple Heart recipient sustained a brain injury that nearly killed him while fighting in the Battle of Anzio in Italy. Recovered, he went on to have a fulfilling career as an optician and eyeglass shop owner in Maine. In 1985, Swett retired to Florida and has been on a mission to help fellow vets see better.
Swett, now 91, inquired if the VA clinic in Daytona Beach could use a hand. “The VA had no optician when I started and I had experience. The ophthalmologist hired me immediately. I was the first volunteer in the system,” he tells the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “I do it because there was a need.”
Since then, Swett has racked up more than 38,000 hours volunteering at the VA, where he repairs and adjusts eyeglasses for vets. “I’m here for the veterans,” he says. “I work for the veterans, not the VA.”
Although Swett’s main work is to help veterans with sight-related needs, he also serves as an inspiration and source of historical information to everyone he meets — including VA interns in their 20s and fellow veterans. Dr. Dianne Kowing, who leads the ophthalmology department at the VA, says, “He gives them an understanding of their role. He’s inspiring to them. And he has a wicked Maine sense of humor.”
Swett volunteers consistently, except for three months in the summer that he spends in Maine. When he returns each fall, his coworkers are always thankful to see him. “I am committed 100 percent in helping [fellow veterans],” he said. “I was brought up that way, to help each other out.”
MORE: An 87-Year-Old World War II Veteran Made A Promise at 19 to Help Someone Every Day
Tag: Vision
Doctors Told This Man His Vision Would Never Improve; He Decided to See for Himself
Play a video game long enough and you might get pretty good at it: post a new high score, reach a new level — or reverse a supposedly incurable birth defect.
That’s the payoff promised by a new game developed by young entrepreneur James Blaha.
When he was 9 or 10 years old, doctors told Blaha that he’d never be able to correct his lazy eye and thus, never be able to see in true stereo vision, according to Daily Motion. Because of a condition he was born with, Blaha lived his life in a flat world, seeing only in two dimensions. He was told the condition was irreversible.
Then, inspired by a TED talk about teaching adults with eye problems to perceive in 3-D, Blaha decided try it for himself, by employing his skills as a programmer.
He developed a video game to strengthen his weaker eye with Oculus Rift virtual-reality goggles. The game takes advantage of the fact that the goggles show each eye a separate image. By dimming the image in the user’s strong eye, Blaha’s game can force the player’s brain to use the weaker eye — strengthening it and training both eyes to work together.
Blaha says his game worked: For the first time, the world around him started to “pop” into three dimensions. He’s started a company, Diplopia, to further develop his video game and to help other people overcome lifelong disabilities. Earlier this year, Blaha raised over $20,000 through a crowdsourced fundraising campaign, convincing hundreds of people to kick in some money.
Clearly, they saw his potential and supported his (now 3-D) vision.
MORE: This Man Was Born Blind, But That Doesn’t Stop Him From Teaching Children to Read
Can Playing an App Enable You to See Better?
To say that your eyes are weary after spending hours battling against the chocolate blocks in Candy Crush Saga is the understatement of the century. But just because squinting at your smartphone’s screen makes your vision feel strained doesn’t mean that all apps are bad for your eyes. In fact, an interactive gaming app developed by University of California, Riverside researchers actually improves your vision.
The app, which is called ULTIMEYES, improves the brain’s ability to process information that it receives from the eyes. To play the app, users are required to complete tasks such as clicking on hard-to-see targets. The more successful you are, the more points you earn. After using it, test subjects walked away with an improved ability to see in dim light and a sharper vision. Researchers used the improved stats to draw the conclusion that this type of technology could improve the quality of life for people with reduced vision as they complete everyday tasks like reading, driving, and watching television.
ULTIMEYES was tested on collegiate baseball players from the University of California who used the technology to better read pitches and improve their ERAs (earned run averages). According to the research recently published in the journal Current Biology, baseball players that used the app for 30 25-minute sessions registered a 31 percent increase in eyesight.
Perhaps players should sing to themselves, “I can see clearly now…”
Check out the video below to learn more: