Local & Community
Free Health Care For The Weekend
The sixth annual California CareForce clinic is back in the valley, which means free health care for thousands of people through the weekend. It kicks off tomorrow at 5AM until about 7PM. Plus, although tomorrow is the first day that people will be able to get treated, hundreds of people waited in line at the Riverside County Fairgrounds to get a wristband. One that’ll give them access to free health clinic services. Long-time volunteer Donald Kagen says this is something that everyone can take advantage of.
“This is absolutely free. There are no requirements whatsoever. You don’t even have to have an identification.”
The services range from dental, to vision, to health.
“On the dental side, that can be anything from a cleaning to a new filling or even a removal of teeth. On the vision side, you will go home for a pair of glasses if that’s what you need. On the health side it’s a little more limited because most require multiple visits," said Kagan.
While there are no age or income restrictions, there are some restrictions.
“You can only get one procedure done a day, but you can come back, multiple days to get everything done that you need to get done. The day before at 4pm, we are handing out wristbands for an estimated number of people we feel we can take.”
Lou Nunez says, he is excited about getting new glasses.
“This is my first time that I have heard about this and I am anxious about it…so we were here at nine in the morning.”
However, he isn’t the only one who is ready to get treated. Jimmy Martinez says, this is a blessing.
“I’m here for my vision, to get new glasses, and I am very excited to get new glasses because I can’t afford them.”
This is being made possible thanks to all of the volunteers. In fact, out of the 900 people who will be working at this event, 898 of them are volunteers.
“That’s everyone from hygienists, we have dentists that do restorative work, we have oral surgeons. We have optometrists that are actually going to check your eyes, the opticians that actually make the glasses. And we also need translators, people to move people around and keep the flow going," said Kagan,
A flow that is inspired by the love for the community.
“It’s a work of love. We do it because we really want to help people come. So please come out, we’ll help everyone that comes.”
Once you get your wristband, you can come to the fairgrounds the next day starting at five in the morning. The care will continue throughout the day until about 7 at night.
By: News Staff
March 22, 2018
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