This year’s Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh clinic filled health care gaps for more than 1,500 patients

It's 5 a.m. on a Friday, and Lavonne Hall has joined several hundred others waiting to receive free dental, vision and hearing care at the annual Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh clinic.

The event is the signature program of A Call to Care, a nonprofit dedicated to improving access to health services for underserved populations. Now in its seventh year of providing free care, Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh fills a niche not typically covered by traditional U.S. health insurance.

The entirely-volunteer run event taps medical professionals, students from local universities and community members to pitch in. There's a volunteer job for any skill set, from running medical triage to managing the snack table. This year, more than 1 in 5 volunteers was Pitt-affiliated.

Hall was one of the 1,676 patients to receive care Nov. 1-2. It was her third time attending a Mission of Mercy event; she had her teeth cleaned and her hearing evaluated and she received a new prescription for glasses.

"I tell everybody about Mission of Mercy. It's an awesome, uplifting experience knowing the staff are volunteers," she said. "Considering everything that's going on in the world right now, it's given me a new respect for people."

Rick Celko, Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh dental director and chief dental officer of UPMC Health Plan, describes volunteering at the clinic as an "overlap of appreciation" between the volunteers and the people who are treated.

"We feel valued by being able to help people," he said.

Three clinics, two days

The day before the clinic, volunteers and David L. Lawrence Convention Center employees fitted the first floor of the center into a 100-bed dental clinic with autoclaves, microscopes and panoramic X-ray machines - a full-service area for cleanings, fillings, root canals, partial dentures and specialized pediatric care.

Also sharing the first floor was a vision hub equipped for both sight evaluations and screenings. Patients who are issued a prescription for glasses receive their new pair at a pickup location a few weeks post clinic. Those who can't make the pickup day are mailed their new glasses.

Attendees who don't believe they are in need of vision support could still benefit from an eye screening, said Jake Waxman, Mission of Mercy vision clinic coordinator and professor of ophthalmology in the School of Medicine.

"If you don't do the preventative work for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, by the time a person comes in with decreased vision, it will be much harder to help them," he said. "Those are two conditions that are overrepresented in underserved communities."