Guest speaker John Marrable, of the Disability Information Service, will discuss avoiding falls and how to reduce injuries from falls when the group meets in early June.
A support and information group for people living with visual impairments, Victa (Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa NZ) was limited by Covid-19 alert level contact restrictions and has not met in person for more than 18 months.
"To fill the gap and carry on sharing information, we started a show on Otago Access Radio, Sight Unseen Aotearoa, which was very successful and has since had listeners all over the country," Ms Hood said.
However, recently Victa members had been getting in touch with her, as group founder, to ask when gatherings would start again.
"It’s good to know that people value the group so much and that we have such an important topic to discuss at our first meeting for such a long time."
The subject of avoiding injury from falls, and staying active while dealing with both visual and physical impairment, is foremost for Ms Hood after having a fall herself.
Late last year, while watering a plant in her living room, she lost her balance — probably due to an episode of vertigo — and suffered a painful compression fracture in part of her spine.
In the months since, she has been struggling with pain and mobility issues and has had to make modifications to her home, including shifting her laundry.
"I recalled talking with John Marrable about falls in the past, and know that he has very good advice to offer about how to avoid common injuries, such as a broken wrist," Ms Hood said.
"It’s a fact of life that sometimes you can’t avoid falls. Poor vision is definitely a risk factor, but you can try to minimise the risk of injury."
Falls are common in New Zealand, with 63,669 recorded by the country’s hospitals in 2018.
Of these, the most common were falls on the same level from tripping, slipping and stumbling (21,224); followed by other falls on the same level (13,915), unspecified falls (6592) and falls on stairs or steps (4893).
Along with hearing about "safe falls", attendees would be encouraged to attend Steady As You Go falls prevention classes.
Members would also discuss the issues for people with failing sight, such as pedestrian safety, which could be the focus of future meetings, she said.
The Victa group meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 2, from 1.30pm in the Dunningham Suite, fourth floor, Dunedin Public Library. Future meetings will be on the first Wednesday of the month.
