View Annual Report - Jules Stein Eye Institute

Community Outreach
Much of the Jules Stein Eye Institute’s reputation
springs from its innovative vision research, which
translates into first-class patient care, including
care of those in underserved communities.
Members of the Institute’s family—Jules Stein Eye
Institute Affiliates volunteers, donors, staff, faculty,
fellows, and residents—have combined their
talents to provide eye care to those who would
normally find it difficult to afford vision screenings,
contact lenses, eyeglasses, medical eye examinations,
and surgery.
Jules Stein Eye Institute Volunteers
Deliver Eye Care to 2,000 Attendees at
CareNow/LA Free Clinic
During a four-day span in October 2011, more than
a dozen Jules Stein Eye Institute ophthalmologists
volunteered for shifts and worked alongside ophthalmic
residents to provide free eye care to needy patients at
the CareNow/LA Free Clinic. Out of the approximately
2,000 attendees who sought eye services, the staff
of the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic provided ophthalmic
screening to roughly 500 patients at risk for diseases
such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, macular
22 Highlights | Community Outreach
degeneration, and glaucoma. Also on hand was an
optometrist to assist those who needed eyeglassrelated
services.
Institute ophthalmologists at the CareNow/LA Free
Clinic saw many people whose vision has been blurry
for years. For many of these patients, having gone so
long without services placed them at risk for serious
complications, including blindness. After dilating one
young man’s eyes, physicians found a choroidal melanoma,
an intraocular tumor that offers the best prognosis
if detected and treated early. Approximately 150
attendees at the Clinic were referred for further evaluation
and/or treatment, and ten patients later received
no-cost surgical services.
(To learn more about how Jules Stein Eye Institute
ophthalmologists, technicians, and volunteers serve
eye-care needs in the community with the UCLA
Mobile Eye Clinic, please refer to the article on the
Ahmanson Foundation grant to the Mobile Eye Clinic
on page 16.)
Some of the approximately 2,000 attendees who sought eye services during the four-day long CareNow/LA Free Clinic.