CommonSpirit Mercy Primary Care has acquired two retinal scanning machines that allow providers to screen diabetic patients for vision loss during regular exams.
Diabetic retinopathy – the term for when high blood sugar levels cause weak blood vessels in the eye to grow and burst – is the leading cause of blindness in adults over age 18 and under age 75, said Dr. Sarah Goodpastor, an internal medicine and diabetology physician at Mercy Primary care.
The early stages of vision loss are without symptoms, she said, and so early screening is critical.
“About 35% of our patients who are due for one (a screening) have one completed when we looked at our data,” Goodpastor said.
The added convenience of conducting the screening in the exam room during a primary care visit should help address that, she said.
Many patients have driven some distance to come to an appointment, she said, and won’t want to make another trip to see an optometrists. Others cannot or do not want to pay another co-pay for a secondary visit.
“We're not going to schedule separate appointments for this,” she said. “… When you come in for your other appointment, we're just seeing if you've had one (a screening), and then if not, we just quickly do it because it takes less than five minutes.”
To conduct the screening, a provider dilates a patient’s eyes by depriving them of light and captures a close-up image, which is sent to an ophthalmologist for review. Mercy has two of these devices, one at the Primary Care Horse Gulch location and one in Three Springs. A third device will soon arrive in Bayfield.
“I think we have an incredible opportunity to raise the screening rates and catch a lot of people who otherwise might be at risk of losing their sight,” Goodpastor said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
