Eyetonomy’s SightMate is a portable, lightweight low vision aid system that optimizes residual peripheral vision. Worn like eyeglasses, it is the first portable video magnifier combining the functions of different low vision aids in a single device with a high resolution image.

12 million people in the US suffer from age-related macular degeneration or other eye diseases that result in the permanent loss of central vision. Common surgical or other medical treatments may halt, but not cure these conditions. In the past, many patients have used a range of optical and electronic magnifiers for different viewing purposes in order to better function in daily life, but there has never been an all-in-one system.

Eyetonomy’s SightMate vision tool can help approximately 40 to 60 percent of patients improve their visual acuity, and hence their quality of life. Tests have demonstrated that people with a 20/70 to 20/200 acuity in their better eye have been able to increase their reading and distance acuity to the range of 20/20 to 20/40 using their remaining peripheral vision while wearing the SightMate. SightMate improves the visual acuity of individuals with central vision loss by allowing them to magnify images or text and pan across it. The magnified images or text are viewed by vision that has not been lost to disease.

By a combination of edge detection, contrast enhancement and optical zoom, SightMate can also assist people with Diabetic Retinopathy or Glaucoma who have suffered a gradual loss over the entire vision field.



The 11th Annual Community Fitness Run & Walk to benefit Hospice of Palm Beach County was held recently in Wellington. Approximately 600 runners and walkers from Palm Beach County and across South Florida participated in this USATF certified 5K event and raised more than $37,000 for Hospice of Palm Beach County patient care programs.



Broward Health has named Sara Howley vice president of corporate communications and marketing.

A Broward Health employee since 1997, Howley started as a media relations specialist for Broward General Medical Center (BGMC). In 2003, she was promoted to the Broward Health headquarters where she served as Manager of Media Relations and soon after Administrative Director for Corporate Communications and Marketing.

Howley is past president of the Florida Society of Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing (a division of the Florida Hospital Association).



Broward Health has been ranked among the most highly integrated healthcare networks in the nation – and the highest in Florida by Verispan.

Verispan’s IHN 100 report, now in its 11th year, evaluates healthcare networks on their performance and degree of integration. Broward Health ranked 33rd nationwide and number one of only four Florida health systems on the list. Last year, Broward Health was among the “Best of the Rest,” Verispan’s list of systems that scored well but didn’t make the top 100.

“Our integrated systems allow our patients to receive the same high standard of care and coordinated treatment plans at all our hospitals and we continue to make strides in this area by implementing a fully integrated electronic medical records system,” said Frank Nask, interim President/CEO of Broward Health.



Thanks to a local neurologist/epileptologist with extensive expertise in medical technology, South Floridians who experience seizures now have the most sophisticated screening equipment for optimal diagnosis available.

For those people experiencing persistent epileptic seizures, medication management and brain surgery are the two current treatments available. Advanced computerized technology is now available to record and measure the precise areas of the brain where abnormalities occur. Once this is determined, a patient suffering from epileptic seizures can even be cured with surgery.

Eduardo Locatelli, M.D., M.P.H., former director of the epilepsy program at Cleveland Clinic Florida, has merged the utilization of the latest state-of-the-art technology with his passion for personalized patient care in a new private practice called Florida Neuroscience Center, which is located near Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale.

At Florida Neuroscience Center, Dr. Locatelli first consults with his patients in his office to get a comprehensive determination of their medical history, lifestyle, and frequency of seizures to develop an individualized screening plan. Electroencephalogram, or EEG, measurements of the electrical activity in the brain are recorded via a high-resolution neurodiagnostic system. Some patients are sent home with a portable digital monitoring device, which transmits information to Dr. Locatelli at his office. Certain patients may need to be monitored using advanced digital technology in a specialized hospital-based epilepsy monitoring unit. A brand new four-bed epilepsy monitoring unit opened in January on the newly renovated fifth floor of Holy Cross Hospital. Here, Dr. Locatelli records continuous brain wave activity with simultaneous video recording. The objective is to keep patients monitored until a seizure occurs, which will indicate the part of the brain that is affected. Sometimes, a seizure can be induced if it is known what type of stimuli causes it, for example, music or loud noises.

“This is a stark difference from the past when pages and pages of EEG measurements would have to be read and compared. Once the paper ran out, that was it,” says Dr. Locatelli. “In the past, doctors were often unable to make a proper diagnosis because they did not have the ability to consistently monitor a patient over time.”