- For many people, sight is one of our most precious senses.

Eyesight helps connect us to our surroundings, to light, beauty, colors, faces and smiles.

But sadly, it's a gift not shared by everyone.

[Susan Hood] I am legally blind, uh, due to, um, a whole series of complications.

- Susan Hood is a patient at the Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute.

The center, opened in late 2022, advances groundbreaking research and couples world class care with advanced technology.

It offers specialized ophthalmology services for both adults and children.

[Susan] The first time I walked into the Eye Institute, I had a sense that this place was designed for people who had different types of visual impairments or visual issues.

- Experts say 80% of what we perceive comes through our vision.

For people like Susan, blindness creates a whole host of challenges that the Eye Institute has studied and anticipated, and it's paid off.

Susan is one of the very first patients.

[Susan] As you enter the building, you know that those windows are there.

You know the natural lights coming in.

So, that help... that helps orient you along.

[Dr. Lim] What we had in mind was if you had an eye problem and didn't see very well, what would you need to be able to travel through this building comfortably and safely?

- Two detached retinas, glaucoma in one eye and other complications have made navigating with her eyes very difficult for Susan.

But she says the 78,000 square foot building is a haven for people like her living with visual impairments.

[Dr. Mannis] Every component of the building is designed to make the patient comfortable.

Even a patient with significant visual disabilities can find his or her way around using color differences, textural differences on the floors, on the walls.

And for that reason, it's really a unique place to be.

One of the interesting things is that one of the consultants who helped design the building is a blind architect.

- The result, a center where doctors can treat virtually any eye disease.

[Dr. Mannis] This building really is the unique product of a collaboration between physicians, technicians and most importantly, patients.

And we wanted to know from patients what components in a building would help them.

[Susan] It just makes the experience here, as a patient, a lot less, uh, complicated, in terms of orientation and mobility.

- And sometimes, it's the little things that make a big difference, including some many people might not even think about.

[Susan] I was also really thrilled about the, um, dog relief area outside because I have a guide dog, and that's really important for me to be able to find a place for her to relieve herself before and after appointments.

- All eyes are focused on patients, including the art created for the center.

It's all geared towards diversity, not just diversity of color or media, but diversity of the artists themselves.

[Dr. Lim] We even have a piece of art that is created by a woman who is both blind and deaf.

- Patients and visitors entering the lobby are greeted by an impressive and meaningful sculpture.

[Dr. Lim] So, the sculpture here is called The Bouquet, and the shape of the sculpture is actually the shape of the lens of the eye.

When the light hits it, it will change color based on the angle at which sunlight passes through it.

As you travel around the Eye Institute, we also have little QR codes in each of the art pieces, so that you can search it and learn a little bit more about the artist and how they created their work.

- While this is an attractive setting for patients, it's also a research and teaching institution, a place sought out by companies developing new diagnostic equipment that will eventually help serve patients.

[Dr. Mannis] So, patients who come here for their treatment can benefit from this technology, which painlessly and effortlessly and very precisely can help us with a diagnosis and treatment of their disease.

[Dr. Brandt] What's really unique about the UC Davis Eye Center and the new Ernest Tschannen Eye Institute is that we have all the pieces of that puzzle under one roof.

And having all the specialties in one building, collaborating right down the hall from each other is unique in Northern California.

- Hundreds of donors came together to make this eye institute a reality, but the majority of the funding was donated by Ernest Tschannen, a retired Sacramento real estate entrepreneur who, himself, received eye care at UC Davis Health.

[Dr. Lim] When Ernest came to see me, he was having really severe, high pressures related to glaucoma, and those high pressures damaged his optic nerves.

What Ernest wanted was to give back to the world of ophthalmology and patients who may suffer from similar blinding diseases, uh, and help us create this space that would, again, just allow us to deliver leading edge cures for patients.

- Sight and vision provide a deep connection to life on so many levels.

And now, there's even greater hope for those who see eyes as windows to the soul.

[Dr. Mannis] We have, for a long time, had a truly world class faculty here at UC Davis.

Now, we have a facility that matches that faculty and that provides access to them, you know, in a wonderful way, for patients in our region.

- This Digital Short is supported by UC Davis Health, home to the number one ranked medical center in Sacramento by U.S. News and World Report.

Learn more about their doctors and their passion for advancing health at health.ucdavis.edu.