No More Mixed Signals: Client Receives Life-Changing Help at Feinbloom Center

For a time, Dr. Brooke Kruemmling feared the day she might get a phone call informing saying one of her clients, Joseph Coger, had been hit by a car.

Coger is visually impaired, and has been working with Dr. Kruemmling at the William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center, which is housed at The Eye Institute (TEI) of Drexel University.

Unfortunately, a couple of stoplights at busy intersections near where Coger lives in Northeast Philadelphia – crossings that he frequently uses – are unsafe because they don’t have the audible beeping sounds that let visually impaired people know when it’s safe to cross the street.

“He’s independent, he goes out and does all the things you and I do. And, literally every time he leaves the house he’s facing a challenge,” said Dr. Kruemmling, an orientation and mobility (O&M) specialist at Feinbloom.

About a year ago, Dr. Kruemmling attended a workshop designed specifically for Orientation and Mobility specialists and traffic engineers. There, she met Andrew Thompson, PE, a 2016 graduate of Drexel University’s civil engineering program, and discovered he was interested in exploring ways to make city streets more accessible for people who are visually impaired.

That encounter turned out to be the perfect meeting of the minds that would eventually help Coger in a real and meaningful way.

After the conference, and on his own time, Thompson traveled to the Feinbloom Center in the Oak Lane section of Philadelphia to observe Dr. Kruemmling work with patients and how traffic design impacted their ability to get around.

“Part of being a good engineer is understanding the people who are using the roadway. I just wanted to learn more about that perspective, being blind and visually impaired and navigating the roadway,” said Thompson, a senior engineering associate of Kittelson and Associates, Inc., in Philadelphia. “She was meeting Joe in North Philly, and I wanted to tag along and see how he was getting around.”

One of the issues Coger was having was that one of the signals near his house didn’t have enough traffic for the stoplight to have audible cues for people who are blind or visually impaired.

“It’s such a unique situation. Usually we think of less traffic is better. But in this case, using the sound of the cars as auditory information wasn’t enough to determine if it was a safe crossing,” said Thompson.

Since his graduation from Drexel, Thompson has been working in Philadelphia, and he suggested that Dr. Kruemmling submit a letter to the Philadelphia Streets Department to see if it could install accessible pedestrian signals at those two lights.

To their delight, the Streets Department officials not only agreed to come out and look at the signal lights in question along with Dr. Kruemmling, Thompson and Coger, but they decided that it was a strong enough case that the city would install the lights with the beeping pedestrian signals. The entire process took about six months to complete, from initially contacting the city to installing the audible signals on the stoplights.

It’s been a life-changing improvement for Coger. He had already been clipped twice in different intersections by passing cars, which fortunately did not do any serious physical damage to him. But it did shatter his confidence about being able to cross the streets safely on his own.

“I was losing confidence. The fear of cars became overpowering. As I learned to listen to the surge of cars, sometimes it’s confusing because electric cars don’t make the same type of sound that I’m used to listening to,” said Coger. “I felt overwhelmed when they brought the idea to me of improving the signals, that somebody was concerned about me. Plus, it makes us so much easier and safer now for me now.”

According to Dr. Erin Kenny, chief of the Feinbloom Center, helping clients improve their standard of living is just one example of how the center and its specialists help members of the community.

“With our interprofessional approach, we help patients so much more than just in the exam room,” said Dr. Kenny. “We help them in their day-to-day activities and their quality of life.”

Base on this successful endeavor, in April 2025, Dr. Kruemmling and Thompson presented on how blind and low vision people navigate streets and how public right-of-way intersections can be better designed for those with visual impairments at the ITE Mid-Colonial District of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting.

“Helping Joseph was really a rewarding experience. I think that’s why I got into civil engineering, a feeling of helping people and making their day-to-day lives a little bit better,” said Thompson.

Dr. Kruemmling, now feels a sense of relief that she doesn’t have to wait for a disturbing phone call informing her that something bad has happened to Coger.

“The difference between watching Joseph cross that street filled with fear versus watching him cross the street filled with confidence is just so cool. He’s got a swagger,” she said.

As for Coger, well, he does have that confidence back.

“There’s nothing like regaining the ability to do something on your own again. There’s a weight off your shoulders, and you feel safer. It doesn’t ensure that every car is going to respect that stoplight, that stop sign. But with the signal tones, I can cross the street straight,” he said. “I had people who really cared about me, and you can feel that. Brooke is a happy spirit. She’s my angel.”