Local Initiative Spotlight: All About ‘Arizona Friends of Talking Books’
We work hard every day at Horizon to identify vision issues early for our patients, provide them the highest quality treatment and do all we can to prevent visual impairment. But we also have many patients who have macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the U.S. For the visually impaired people whom we help, our goals are to help them improve their quality of life and keep their vision and eye health from getting any worse.
One of the best services we recommend, and work closely with, is Arizona Friends of Talking Books (AZFTB). In this post, we wanted to share a little more about this wonderful organization and how it’s helping many of our patients and others in the valley who suffer from vision loss.
How Does it Work?
Arizona Friends of Talking Books is an organization that supports the Arizona Talking Book Library, which is part of the Arizona library service. AZFTB, which has been in existence since 1999, supports the library through funding (when state funding isn’t enough) and through outreach and educational support.
Thousands of blind, visually impaired or physically impaired Arizonans, who can no longer use conventional books or magazines, use the Talking Book Library service - including many of our patients. Patrons of all ages, young and old, use the service and it’s free to eligible Arizonans. Perhaps the best part is that it’s at no added expense to those who use it. The library provides the audio books for free, the service for free and the postage/delivery for free.
How is Horizon Connected to this Cause?
Horizon Eye Specialists and Sharona Optical have both actively supported AZFTB and its various fundraising efforts over the years and have championed the cause to its patients and supporters. The doctors and staff at Horizon have a deep belief in doing their part to enrich the lives of visually impaired people, and giving them attainable access to the education and entertainment books can provide is a great way to do so.
Furthermore, Dr. Rockwell (who joined our team in 2009) has been a board member of AZFTB for over 15 years and also spent time as president of the organization in the past. He continues to keep us all connected to this worthy mission.
At Horizon, we love to give our time and support to local initiatives that are doing real good in our communities, and AZFTB is definitely one of these. If you’d like to learn more about this service, or about how you can help us further the cause, please contact us any time.