GBMC Low Vision Expert Comments On Selection
Of Blind Lieutenant Governor Candidate

BALTIMORE, Md. – June 29, 2006 – A Greater Baltimore Medical Center low vision expert and international authority on vision issues is praising today’s selection of a legally blind professional to run as the lieutenant governor candidate on Governor Robert Ehrlich’s ticket.

“This is a groundbreaking and hallmark decision,” said Janet Sunness, M.D., Medical Director of GBMC’s Hoover Rehabilitation Services for Low Vision and Blindness. Dr. Sunness has a special interest in Stargardt disease, a genetic disease and the juvenile form of macular degeneration which lieutenant governor candidate Kristen Cox inherited as a young adult.

Stargardt disease is the  most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration, affecting approximately one in 10,000 children.  There is much research being done on the genetics of Stargardt disease and on ways of slowing the disease in an animal model, but there is no treatment at present for this condition.  Dr. Sunness cares for about 100 patients with Stargardt disease, and has published several papers on this condition.

“Unfortunately we still don’t have any medical or surgical treatment for Stargardt, but with appropriate low vision aids, individuals can obviously still lead very productive lives,” Dr. Sunness said.  “Hopefully this announcement will go a long way toward combating the negative stigmas often associated with disabilities such as low vision or blindness.”

High-technology devices can be useful to some patients with low vision or blindness, Dr. Sunness said. GBMC’s Hoover  Vision Information & Education Works (VIEW), located on the 3^rd floor of Physician’s Pavilion West, showcases the latest technology such as closed circuit televisions for the visually impaired. Patients and family can examine and "test drive" a multitude of devices to evaluate and compare their usefulness.

VIEW also offers both optical aids such as high-powered magnifiers, telescopes or electronic devices, and & non-optical aids such as check writing guides, bold tip pens, yellow acetate filters, talking watches and clocks, large button phones and large playing cards.

GBMC also offers in-home rehabilitation for low vision patients, who are taught adaptive daily living skills such as cooking, financial record keeping, sewing and lighting evaluations.  Patients are also   taught how  to travel safely in the community and in their home in spite of their vision impairment, using sighted guide techniques, cane travel and route travel.

Dr. Sunness is an accomplished researcher in understanding how diseases cause loss of vision and has directed several National Institutes of Health-funded studies in this field.  Her clinical practice focuses on low vision and on retinal and macular disease.  She is a member of the taskforce on low vision of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. 

A resident of Pikesville, Dr. Sunness joined GBMC in March 2005.  Prior, she  spent 21 years with the Johns Hopkins Medical system, including serving as an associate professor in the School of Medicine’s Department  of Ophthalmology for the past nine years, as well as serving as medical director of the Low Vision Service, director of the Retinal Dystrophy Center and director of the Visual Function Service, all at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute. 

The Richard E. Hoover Rehabilitation Services for Low Vision & Blindness (http://www.gbmc.org/medicine/hoover/index.cfm) was established in 1986 at GBMC as a joint venture with the Maryland School for the Blind and the Hoover family.  Dr. Hoover led the hospital’s Ophthalmology Department for a quarter century, and had a long history of service as a teacher, ophthalmologist, and board member at the Maryland School for the Blind.  Dr. Hoover dedicated much of his career to developing rehabilitation programs for visually impaired people. These services, which bear his name, continue this mission of teaching people the skills they need to function each day despite impaired sight.  The Hoover Services clinical team provides comprehensive care for patients with macular degeneration and other ocular disease.

About GBMC
GBMC includes Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Central Maryland’s leading community hospital; Hospice of Baltimore, which provides comfort and care to patients with life-limiting illnesses; the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Community Health Center, which offers comprehensive health and family services to the residents of East Baltimore; and the GBMC Foundation, which supports the GBMC mission by managing fundraising efforts.  The 300-bed Medical Center, located on a beautiful suburban campus, serves nearly 22,000 inpatients annually and provides approximately 50,000 emergency room visits. For more information, go to www.gbmc.org.

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