A new 39-foot-long mobile eye clinic is helping more Oregonians like Portland resident Gaylon Taylor receive free vision-saving care.
Taylor, 58, came to North by Northeast Community Health Center in Northeast Portland on a recent Saturday morning to visit the mobile clinic, which was parked behind the center for an event organized by Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Community Outreach Program. Taylor had noticed his vision wasn’t as clear as it used to be and was seeking help from the OHSU Casey Eye Institute program.
OHSU partners with community organizations like North By Northeast to end preventable blindness by providing free vision screenings and eye exams to low-income adults. Since 2010, the Casey Community Outreach program has driven its original 33-foot-long mobile eye clinic around the state to provide these services to underserved communities. In January, the program welcomed its second, more spacious eye-clinic-on-wheels.
“With this new mobile eye clinic, the OHSU Casey Community Outreach Program can provide a better patient experience, increase clinic efficiency and improve our ability to diagnose vision-threatening conditions,” said Program Director Verian Wedeking. “Most importantly, the new mobile clinic enables the program and its expanding network of community partners to help more people overcome barriers to vision care.”
At the March 2 screening event, Taylor stepped into the new mobile clinic for a full eye exam with volunteer ophthalmologist Paul Stromberg, M.D. Stromberg used a bright beam of light, magnifying equipment and other medical tools to look inside Taylor’s eyes.
Fortunately, Stromberg didn’t find indications of serious eye disease, meaning a referral to another doctor for further evaluation wasn’t necessary. Other program volunteers had already evaluated Taylor’s vision and determined some correction was needed. As a result, Taylor only needed to pick up a free pair of glasses on his way out.
“It’s a blessing to have something like this,” said Taylor, who lost his job in the service sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I just want to be able to see everything.”
The Casey Outreach Program’s new mobile clinic and program expansion was made possible by a total of $4.25 million in donations from philanthropist Heather Killough, the Roundhouse Foundation, S. Page Evans and others. Those donations enabled the program to both obtain a second mobile eye clinic and also establish the Oregon Vision Network, which is training community health workers to become vision health navigators and providing local primary care clinics with imaging equipment to further screen for eye conditions.
Recently, an anonymous supporter made a $3 million donation. The new gift establishes an endowment that will generate funds annually to help keep the Casey Community Outreach Program on the road and provide eye health care far into the future.
Since 2010, the program has served more than 12,000 people, resulting in about 7,450 free prescription eyeglasses being given out and more than 3,275 people being referred to eye doctors for further care.
For more information, watch a recent KGW-TV story about the OHSU Casey Outreach Program’s new mobile eye clinic.