Free dental, vision, and hearing clinic being held at David L. Lawrence Convention Center
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A free healthcare clinic is taking over the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the next two days.
More than 1,500 volunteers will be offering free dental, vision, and hearing screenings and procedures.
Some people arrived as early as late Thursday evening, waiting several hours for the doors of the clinic to open at 6 a.m. Friday.
This marks the seventh year for the clinic that's hosted by Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh.
People will be able to get free dental services like exams, clinics, minor fillings, root canals, and extractions. They'll also be able to get eye and hearing exams along with fittings for free glasses and hearing aids.
The event is eligible to adults and children ages 2 and up.
Insurance isn't required and there are no income requirements.
Last year, volunteers served more than 1,700 patients across two days, including conducting more than 9,500 dental procedures and delivering more than $2 million worth of services.
"Those folks that are making that financial decision between say, do I need to feed the kids, do I pay the rent, or do I get dental care," said Keith Young, Chairman of Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh. "And that dental care is always the one that falls off when you have a tough financial situation. So that group, we really encourage to come down if they need that help, because this is vital care for these folks, especially dental."
"We strive to be able to care for everybody that comes looking for care and we do our best to get patients out of pain," said Dr. Dan Pituch, UPMC's Chief of Oral Surgery and co-founder of Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh. "We get them out of risk of infection or out of risk of developing a more serious problem."
According to Mission of Mercy, income disparities on top of challenges with inflation and out-of-pocket costs for hearing aids and glasses leads to many people delaying getting the care they need.
Patients that postpone oral care often end up at emergency departments, which are not equipped to provide dental care beyond pain management.
Services at the clinic are being provided on a first-come, first-served basis both Friday and Saturday.
