With an urgent need to provide for the nearly 1 in 10 Americans who still lack insurance coverage even after the passing of the Affordable Care Act², organizations like the California CareForce are creating free pop-up medical clinics to bring screening services and patient education to an underserved population.

Katherine Makedonsky, OD, of the ZEISS Dublin, CA optometric clinic and Meike Mack, ZEISS Product Manager, recently volunteered at a vision screening event in the state capital of Sacramento. Using the ZEISS VISUSCOUT hand-held retinal camera and other diagnostic devices, Makedonsky and Mack screened 89 patients of ages ranging from approximately 6-years-old to 90. Among those, 10 referable cases of DR were identified.

Awareness not just about diabetes but about co-existing conditions, like DR, is often lacking among the same low-income and minority populations that are at the greatest risk for developing it. Patient education is a vital part of empowering patients to take charge of their own health.

Makedonsky recounted her experience screening one patient who was aware of her diabetes, but lacked a vital understanding of its progressive effect on her vision.

“We saw a patient with a pretty moderate case of diabetic retinopathy. She knew she had diabetes, but she really didn’t know anything else,” Makedonsky explained. “There were blood spots everywhere in the back of her eye, and we actually ended up taking images on all gazes. We emphasized the importance of sharing those images with a primary care physician and showing that her diabetes was out of control.”

Those patients with positive DR cases and without insurance were referred to low-cost community health clinics and provided information about organizations sponsoring vouchers and financial assistance for more extensive procedures at the end of their screening.

With diabetic retinopathy being the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults³, the need for vision screening and patient education about diabetes and DR is greater than ever. Thanks to caring medical professionals and concerned citizens like Makendonsky and Mack, information and intervention are being made available to those who might otherwise go unserved.

In 2018, CA CareForce provided $1.5 million dollars-worth of free services to over 3,000 Californians. For more information about past and upcoming screening events or to volunteer your time, visit http://www.californiacareforce.org.

To learn more about the ZEISS VISUSCOUT and its application for remote screening, visit: http://www.zeiss.com/visuscout

^{References
1 California CareForce Facebook Post. http://www.californiacareforce.org
2 California CareForce Website. http://www.californiacareforce.org
3 https://www.cdc.gov/prc/program-research/eye-exams.htm}