Social Group and Health Activities Classes (SGA)
A wide range of classes and activities designed for life enrichment are available at Miami Lighthouse. These programs encourage the clients to remain active in the community through field trips, exercise classes, arts and crafts, support groups, language classes and other areas of interest.
Miami Lighthouse has partnered with local organizations to provide fun and interactive recreational activities.
The primary goal of the Social Group Health and Activities
Program (SGA) is to facilitate independence and enhance socialization
skills for older adults with significant and uncorrectable vision loss.
This is a therapeutic program of social and health services that
individuals in our community are unable to access in other locations due
to the fact that Miami Lighthouse is the sole provider in Miami-Dade
County offering professional vision rehabilitation along with health
related services.
Because one-third SGA participants are diabetic and often
this is the reason for vision loss (diabetic retinopathy), a registered
dietitian provides one-on-one one nutritional counseling one morning a
week. Therapeutic services are provided along with instruction on access
technology, ESOL and adult basic education and support groups.
SGA offers activities that aid in perfecting one’s
blindness skills. Ceramics and Arts and Crafts improve dexterity,
necessary for Braille comprehension. Fitness and wellness activities
include exercise and lectures with group discussions, Field trips to local
parks, and areas of interest. One in four people with macular degeneration
develop clinical depression. Such seniors suffering from age-related
vision loss remain isolated in their home, and the SGA Program helps them
overcome depression and gives them the opportunity to interact with
visually impaired peers in a socializing environment. 140 clients were
served with approximately 23,672 hours of service provided.
For more information, please contact
Nelba
Gonzalez.
Click here
to watch the Lions for the Blind Project PowerPoint.
Computer Skills
Thanks to a generous grant from The Able Trust, Miami Lighthouse is able to provide access to state-of-the-art computers equipped with assistive programs for people who are blind or visually impaired to practice computer familiarization skills. Miami Lighthouse clients and other community members who are blind or visually impaired are welcome to utilize these computers.
Support Groups
Miami Lighthouse is supportive of various blindness and community organizations in the community. Groups such as the National Federation for the Blind, American Council for the Blind,
Union de Ciegos Hispanos en los Estados Unidos, Florida Families of Children who are Visually Impaired and others host meetings at Miami Lighthouse. We welcome other support groups and community organizations to utilize our facilities.
For more information about our SGA department please contact Nelba
Gonzalez (ngonzalez@miamilighthouse.org
and 786-362-7453) and/or Chelsea Haina (chaina@miamilighthouse.org
and 786-362-7448).
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