Eye specialists reach out at homeless community health expo

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group of Manitoba optometrists is volunteering its time to Winnipeg’s most vulnerable, offering free check-ups, treatments and prescriptions from a joint medical clinic at Siloam Mission.

“We know that not having impairment correction can inhibit abilities and access to education and employment,” said Carmen Recksiedler, a member of the Manitoba Association of Optometrists.

“We experience that through our patients… having that repaired, is life changing for them.”

On Tuesday, Recksiedler and several of her colleagues participated in the Gizhe Waa Ti-Sii-Win Expo at Siloam’s 300 Princess St. location.

The annual event, which began in 2018, brought more than 40 service providers to the downtown shelter facility to help an estimated 1,000 people access a range of government and health branches, Siloam spokesperson Luke Thiessen said.

The group of eye specialists worked from an examination room within the Saul Sair Health Centre, a joint medical clinic attached to Siloam’s shelter. There, they hoped to provide ocular assessments and prescriptions for more than 40 patients throughout the course of the day.

“There are people who are more comfortable coming here, that wouldn’t necessarily reach out to another clinic readily,” optometrist Irene Mestito-Dao said. “Having somewhere they can call home, that they trust and can come in and feel that they are in a safe space is huge.”

Saul Sair is supported by more than 130 volunteer health-care professionals specializing in a range of medical services, including primary care, dentistry, podiatry and physiotherapy.

Outside of the expo, volunteer optometrists provide services at Siloam about once a month on average, and have been visiting the site since around 2011. Those volunteers are able to help around six people in a typical shift, Recksiedler said.

She reminded the public many optical services are covered under Manitoba Health and available at registered clinics throughout the province.

Localizing health and government services to one central location is crucial to improving outcomes for vulnerable people. The success of the expo — which has grown in scale each of the last five years — is a testament to the need for services, said Stephane Bisson of End Homelessness Winnipeg.

“(It) is a sad reality that the need keeps growing,” he said. “Having everything under one roof is really best for all the relatives.”

Bisson and Thiessen both expressed optimism civic and provincial officials will make good on their promises to solve homelessness in Winnipeg.

“The community and front-line staff, they are so amazing here in Winnipeg, and it seems the new Mayor (Scott) Gillingham is listening,” Bisson said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca