“The Balancing Act” is a top-rated daily morning show airing on Lifetime that targets women who do it all. It aspires to provide its audience with helpful tips and items to guide them through parenthood and work life.
Balancing it all can be difficult, but the hosts, daytime TV legend Montel Williams and Olga Villaverde, use their personal experiences and show how to make life easier for their viewers.
The Sept. 2 show, which will air again on Sept. 10 at 7:30 a.m., features the innovative Orcam electronic low-vision and hearing product line, plus insights into the specialty field of low vision rehabilitation. The primary message is that low-vision rehabilitation has a huge scarcity of specialists in the U.S. — less than 500 — to help those that need help, the visually impaired population.
That is 21 million people and that number, according to the National Institute of Health, will double by the year 2050.
There are many medical advances, but none of them restore true everyday vision. The eye chart that we are used to is 99% high contrast, which is hardly representative of the everyday world of recognizing faces, steps and cooking. And the eye chart is what all studies use to measure as an improvement in vision.
Low-vision devices can definitely help patients, and adding the small-profile Orcam electronic tools, plus the new AI component, is really promising for daily enjoyment of life.
Dr. Gary Asano of Los Angeles was the low-vision rehabilitation optometrist on the show. The Sansei is a nationally renowned specialist and founded the California Optometric Association Low-Vision Rehabilitation Section in 2009. Today it has 110 dues-paying OD members, the largest such organization in the world. Equally important, it has 175 student members, so there is much hope for the growth of this specialty care.
Bali March, the vice president of Orcam, explained and demonstrated their four generations of electronic low-vision devices and their just-released innovative hearing aid that isolates the specific person speaking. That contrasts with current aids amplifying all the other people who are speaking.
Shanelle Matos has had lifelong multiple ocular problems that are not functionally helped by any treatment. She enthusiastically showed how these aids supplement her other prescribed low-vision aids, and how the Orcam technology has easily and effectively enabled her to manage and enjoy everyday life with friends and family.
“When you see it, you’ll understand how it’s no small wonder that ‘The Balancing Act’ decided to air this very enjoyable and positive show twice in such a short span,” Asano said.
To watch the segment on YouTube, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTBRF2ccxQ