A free clinic that provides dental, vision and hearing care will return to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center this weekend. The Mission of Mercy clinic will offer dental exams and procedures as well as eye and hearing exams to children and adults free of charge.
The clinic is spearheaded by A Call to Care. Keith Young, chairman of the Pittsburgh nonprofit, said the clinic aims to improve access to important health care as costs skyrocket out of reach for many in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“The vast majority of people that we work with are those folks that are making a decision to sustain paying the rent, buying food for the kids, or having the dental care done,” he said.
The clinic also expects to care for military veterans and people who are experiencing homelessness. The event is free to everyone, offering services to people ages two and up. There are no pre-registration or eligibility requirements.
The clinic opens at 6 a.m. each day and closes once capacity is reached for the day. Appointments are first-come, first-served.
Last year, the clinic served more than 1,700 patients and conducted 9,517 dental procedures. About 1,600 volunteers — including dentists, opticians, ophthalmologists, clinicians, nurses and imaging technicians — are expected to care for patients Friday and Saturday.
The clinic primarily focused on dental procedures when it held its first event in 2017. But for the last two years, Mission of Mercy has expanded services to include vision and hearing exams. Last year, the clinic provided 825 eye exams and gave out 752 pairs of free eyeglasses.
“No one should endure poor vision due to lack of insurance or financial constraints,” said Dr. Jake Waxman, who leads the clinic’s eye care initiative. “Untreated eye health issues can escalate and affect every part of our lives. We urge those in need to seek us out. Every pair of eyeglasses matters, every pair of eyes matters.”
Mission of Mercy also performed 447 hearing exams and gave out 274 sets of hearing aids free of charge last year. Young said he was moved by one patient’s story of struggling with hearing loss for three decades, unable to afford hearing aids. He said once she had her new hearing aids, she was overcome with emotion from the sound of “the first voice [she] heard in 30 years.”
“Because this person couldn't afford a hearing aid for that long [she] has gone without hearing for that long,” he said. “But now [she] has a hearing aid that allows her to hear. That is a huge, life-changing event.”
Young said each of last year’s 1,700 patients came with similar stories, including one man who had a dental procedure to treat a life-threatening infection. He said about 70% of patients who return to the annual clinic do not have health insurance.
The clinic will offer dental exams, cleanings, minor restorative fillings, extractions, root canal treatments and a limited number of temporary partial dental appliances. Pediatric dentists will be available to provide specialized care to children.
“Oral health problems can become life-threatening if left untreated, so it’s important for those who need dental care to come see us,” said Mission of Mercy Co-founder Daniel Pituch, who is also the chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at UPMC Mercy and UPMC Shadyside. “This year’s clinic will once again provide our most vulnerable community members access to proper dental care to improve their health.”
Patients who display high blood pressure during their pre-dental treatment assessment will also receive a free blood pressure cuff device for home monitoring, as well as information and intervention guidance from on-site American Heart Association representatives.
Patients can also choose to receive free vision and hearing exams and fittings for free eyeglasses and hearing aids. Vision support can be critical as many who experience vision loss don’t visit the eye doctor for treatment. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that of the 93 million adults in the U.S. at risk for serious vision loss, about half visited an eye doctor in the last year.
The two-day clinic is sponsored by the Highmark Foundation, United Concordia Dental UPMC and UPMC Health Plan, the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh and a number of other philanthropic organizations.
"The fact that people eagerly anticipate this annual event for access to dental, vision, hearing, and immunization services speaks volumes about how critical these services truly are,” said Yvonne Cook, president of the Highmark Foundation. “Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh is a vital resource for countless individuals across southwest Pennsylvania."
