Natrona Heights ministry helps area’s disadvantaged residents

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Barbara Morris is painfully aware of the cost of new glasses .

In need of trifocals, she is looking at a $600 price tag.

It’s too much money and out of reach for the Kittanning resident whose family is without health insurance.

But that won’t stop Morris from getting the new eye wear.

Morris, who also is director of Morning Light Ministries in Heights Plaza, Natrona Heights, is bringing a free clinic sponsored by Mission Vision, a Cranberry nonprofit that offers free eye exams and free glasses to the poor.

The clinic will be held Monday at the Sheldon Park Community Center, 480 Park Ave., Natrona Heights, for economically disadvantaged residents without vision insurance.

“This is a blessing to me and other residents,” Morris says. “It’s a big thing.”

Others agree. Already, 32 residents have signed up for the clinic, according to Morris.

Morning Light Ministries, affiliated with the nondenominational Harvest Community Church in Kittanning, serves about 200 disadvantaged residents, offering free clothes and other services.

“A lot of the people we work with don’t have insurance to get eye examinations and they can’t afford plastic eyeglasses

,” Morris says.

According to Susan Henault of Mission Vision, there are thousands of people in the region who do not have access to eye care.

Mission Vision was founded five years ago by Dr. William Christie, an ophthalmologist practicing in Cranberry and Fox Chapel, who has volunteered for numerous medical missions to Ghana and other parts of Africa.

In the past year, Christie has expanded his charitable medical work to Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“Right here in Pittsburgh, there are impoverished people, including the homeless, who are not able to see,” Henault says. “How are you supposed to get a job if you can’t fill out an application?” she asks.

The fate of children with poor eyesight is more precarious, as they are labeled as slow learners in school and could be stuck in special student learning groups for years when their only problem is lacking good vision.

“And with a child who doesn’t have glasses, they don’t know that they can’t see well,” Henault says.

The work of Mission Vision has resonated with nonprofits that serve the poor: The Cranberry group has sponsored 24 free eye clinics in the region in the past year and has a waiting list of 25 organizations representing 40 different sites requesting the eye care clinic, according to Henault.

“There is so much need,” she says.

The clinics have been offered at the Light of Life Rescue Mission in Pittsburgh’s North Side, Salvation Army citadels, food banks, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other places where the truly needy dwell.

“We go right to the site where we can help the people and we rely on our partners to screen and make sure that we are serving the people in the most need – the homeless, uninsured and the working poor,” Henault says.

Mission Vision sets up mobile eye clinics staffed by volunteer, state-licensed optometrists, opticians and other professionals.

“I think the entire project is very rewarding for everybody involved,” says Dr. Larry Henry, a Butler optometrist with offices in Kittanning and Butler who volunteers for the program.

“It’s amazing the majority of people we see don’t have the advantage of having a pair of glasses and their visions can be fairly poor,” he says.

Because of vision problems, many of the patients who show up at the clinics don’t read. “You can tell they are appreciative of the fact they will finally get back to some type of normalcy where they are able to finally see and function normally,” he says.

In addition to the exams and free glasses, the clinic doctors end up flagging other ailments.

According to Henault, one of five patients is diagnosed with eye conditions that can cause blindness such as glaucoma if left untreated.

To meet demand, Mission Vision has applied for grants to raise more money, Henault says.

Henry adds that more eye doctors could help the cause.

“I think everybody should take the time out and help,” Henry says. “That’s the only thing that holds back the program. If we had the availability of more doctors, we could do so much more.”

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