January 10 - CNIB Conference Call

At last, representatives of our local vision loss support group were able to participate in a conference call with Matthew Kay, CEO of Vision Loss Rehabilitation and Andrew Galster, CEO of CNIB Foundations. Back in October our group had tried to understand the cutbacks that had led to the closing of CNIB sales rooms and the closing of CNIB offices in Grand Prairie, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. Our group expressed dissatisfaction with these changes in a written letter to CNIB and this week’s conference call was a follow-up to that correspondence.

During the call, Matthew and Andrew attempted to explain the discussions the CNIB Board had had with the government about funding, discussions that had led to the closures of subsidiary offices and sales rooms and reduction of CNIB staff. Andrew agreed that the media interpretation of the decisions was not clear. Our group suggested that a written news release might have solved any initial confusion. Andrew agreed and our small group was pleased to learn that in the early part of this year, we could anticipate a regular newsletter to the facilitators of the various peer support groups in Alberta. This newsletter will apparently give updates on any happenings in CNIB which might affect clients.

The two CEO’s attempted to explain the division between VLR (Vision Loss Rehabilitation) and CNIB Foundations. Basically VLR is responsible for essential health services to persons with vision loss while CNIB Foundations is the larger umbrella of the organization and covers the charitable end of things.

While the conference call was a good one and did answer some of our questions and concerns, there is still a long road ahead. Primarily we will look forward to a communications network which will inform us of future changes. Will there eventually be a newsletter? Will there be access to vision loss aides and devices? Will there be a mobility training unit?

We recognize the economic climate of the times but we also look forward to an agency with the needs of CNIB clients as its primary focus.  Thank you to Matthew and Andrew for addressing some of our concerns in this week’s conference call.