The COVID-19 pandemic has placed members of our community off work and out of school as they are self-isolate at home. Electric Puppets is working with the IWK Children’s hospital to find ways to increase access to services for Nova Scotians while at home, including medical assessments, ability to participate in research, and access to technology that can be used for education and opportunities to explore virtually. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working to specifically address vision testing and assessment for existing and new patients at the IWK throughout the province and will be working on getting equipment to them so they can continue to be assessed while at home. As the program expands to wider patient groups, Electric Puppets is exploring ways to leverage community resources, and it’s hoped that an emerging relationship with the Nova Scotia Provincial Library could lead to community support from public libraries to provide high speed internet service, manage equipment loans, and assist community members as they access services.
“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IWK Eye Clinic will be developing a remote vision assessment protocol to ensure on-going care and interaction with patients and families. We are interested to include Electric Puppets in this endeavor and modify the Evrisia project in order to achieve this goal.”
