(PRESS RELEASE) WASHINGTON, DC — Responsum Health (Responsum), an innovative developer of personalized patient apps and chronic disease knowledge communities, and Prevent Blindness, the leading voluntary eye health and safety organization in the U.S., announced the launch of an online knowledge platform for patients with glaucoma. The platform, called The Glaucoma Community, can be accessed for free via web browser or mobile app.
Thoughtfully designed to best serve individuals with glaucoma, The Glaucoma Community provides users with a toolkit of useful, community-oriented features. The platform replaces impersonal web aggregators and social sites with a personalized Newsfeed designed to meet the needs of the user, which delivers easy-to-read summaries of important glaucoma news and information from across the internet every day. Moreover, all The Glaucoma Community content is written by professional health writers and vetted by a team of reviewers under the expert guidance of Prevent Blindness.
Other features include the Community Chat, a moderated social wall where users can share experiences and advice; automatic translation into seven languages; and the Patient One-Sheet, which allows patients to easily collect, maintain, and print their key medical information in a secure format. Members will also have access to Responsum’s robust collection of trusted patient resources, including financial assistance programs and glaucoma support groups. The Glaucoma Community was made possible by a grant from The Allergan Foundation.
Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes loss of sight by damaging a part of the eye called the optic nerve. The damage causes vision loss in patches, most frequently one’s side, or peripheral, vision. The prevalence of glaucoma increases with age. Black and Hispanic populations, as well as women in general, are also at higher risk for the disease. Glaucoma is a serious, lifelong eye disease that can lead to vision loss if not treated and controlled.
“While the Internet offers the promise of unlimited access to information, individuals with glaucoma can easily find themselves overwhelmed by too much content or underserved by inaccurate, inappropriate, or overly complex content. The Glaucoma Community solves that problem,” said Andrew M. Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Responsum Health. “We are excited to be partnering with Prevent Blindness to bring people with glaucoma a state-of-the-art app to help them better understand their treatment options, develop strategies to improve their health and quality of life, and find community among others who are facing the same challenges from this chronic disease.”
“Today, there are more than an estimated 3.2 million Americans that have glaucoma,” said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “By creating these new resources, our goal is to provide the information and support that patients and their caregivers need to help prevent significant vision loss from the ‘Sneak Thief of Sight,’ as glaucoma is commonly called.”