Now the director of the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco, Schainholz sees his work as a way of giving sight to the blind. At the Lighthouse's year-old Low Vision Center, Schainholz helps patients who are suffering from a number of visual impairments including glaucoma, diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration.
Macular degeneration is a condition that affects one out of every three seniors.
The disorder causes a loss of central vision that makes reading nearly impossible. Schainholz theorizes that the biblical figure Isaac may have had macular degeneration. At the center, which provides assistance to people of all ages, Schainholz does not perform surgery. According to Schainholz, very few people know that there is help even when nothing can be done medically or surgically. Many people end up suffering alone and unnecessarily.