Community Outreach

The Eye & Ear Foundation supports the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology in advancing care to impact how people hear, see, and live. We also understand that access to care is necessary to ensure this care is available to all. This means also supporting efforts to combat social determinants of health barriers to care. A list of our community efforts includes the following:

Ophthalmology

  • 24-hour urgent eye care
    • Once this opens on the ground floor of the Vision Institute this fall, individuals with eye injuries will no longer have to travel to UPMC Presbyterian’s emergency room for treatment.
  • Addison Grant recipients
    • The Eye & Ear Foundation received a grant from the Addison Gibson Foundation in 2022 to help cover medical expenses for low-income patients in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology whose care was not covered by health insurance. These funds were used for such care as dental surgery following head and neck cancer, tinnitus retraining therapy, and providing low vision devices for patients with vision loss.
  • Clothing closet for OPH patients
    • Thanks to a generous donation from a clothing company, the Department of Ophthalmology was able to establish a “clothing closet” at the new Vision Institute for patients who may need a change of clothing during their appointment.
  • Community service coordinator
    • The community service coordinator helps manage the Department of Ophthalmology’s community outreach efforts in providing care in underserved communities. Their efforts are concentrated on coordinating the Guerilla Eye Service, Mission of Mercy event, and missions involving the mobile eyeVan.
  • EEF Community Outreach Committee
    • The Community Outreach Committee was formed by the EEF Board of Directors in 2020 to help the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology identify and address social determinants of health that create disparities in care for the eyes, ears, nose, and throat in underserved communities.
  • Full-service pharmacy
    • The pharmacy in the Vision Institute is open to the entire community, not just patients of the UPMC Mercy Campus. This provides our uptown neighbors an opportunity to obtain their prescriptions without having to go downtown or to Oakland.
  • Garden partnership with the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children (WPSBC)
    • The WPSBC operates a robust horticulture education and therapy program for children and adults. Their students – who operate the greenhouse on their campus – now visit the Vision Institute in order to gain experience in landscape design and maintenance.
  • Guerrilla Eye Service
    • The Guerrilla Eye Service, or GES, is a student-run free, mobile health clinic that offers free comprehensive eye exams to individuals with barriers to care at various community clinics around the Pittsburgh region.
  • Mission of Mercy
    • The Mission of Mercy event is a two-day free health clinic held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh that provides free dental, vision, and hearing care for patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or otherwise lacking access to quality care.
  • Mobile eyeVan
    • The mobile eyeVan was donated to EEF in 2023 from the Brother’s Brother Foundation to assist Dr. Jake Waxman and the Guerilla Eye Service team in providing free, comprehensive eye exams to underserved communities in the Pittsburgh region. This fully equipped van is an ophthalmology clinic on wheels that will partner with various local organizations and events.
  • Ophthalmology summer training for high school students (Hillman Scholars Program)
    • With support from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, research labs in Ophthalmology have been added as a site to the Hillman Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh, which hosts students each summer to gain experience working in STEM. Students from economically disadvantaged districts are encouraged to apply and given a stipend for their time.
  • Patient navigator
    • The patient navigator is a dedicated staff member who assists patients in accessing and maintaining the healthcare they need by navigating the healthcare system and connecting them with services in the community to improve their overall quality of life.
  • Training space for community ophthalmologists
    • A marquee space in the new Vision Institute at the UPMC Mercy Pavilion is the E. Ronald Salvitti Surgical Training Laboratory. This training facility offers 15 fully equipped surgical training stations that will not only be used by the Department of Ophthalmology to train its own residents and fellows but will be utilized to provide continuing education training opportunities for community ophthalmologists from around the region.
  • Uptown Café
    • The Uptown Café is opening this fall in the Vision Institute, an amazing option for all residents of the Uptown neighborhood, not just patients and employees of UPMC Mercy. Located on the first floor, the café provides a safe and economical option for healthy eating in an area that does not have an overabundance of dining options or a community market.

Otolaryngology

  • Addison Grant recipients
    • The Eye & Ear Foundation received a grant from the Addison Gibson Foundation in 2022 to help cover medical expenses for low-income patients in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology whose care was not covered by health insurance. These funds were used for such care as dental surgery following head and neck cancer, tinnitus retraining therapy, and providing low vision devices for patients with vision loss.
  • EEF Community Outreach Committee
    • The Community Outreach Committee was formed by the EEF Board of Directors in 2020 to help the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology identify and address social determinants of health that create disparities in care for the eyes, ears, nose, and throat in underserved communities.
  • Hearing SUPPORT
    • The Hearing SUPPORT program increases research capacity by providing a validated, consumer-driven laboratory test protocol that can predict real world listening function for hearing aids on the market, both prescribed and over the counter, using a proprietary test battery.  
  • HearUP
    • The HearUP program supports individuals in the community who cannot financially access assistance for their hearing problems. This includes individuals with significant hearing loss who are trying to find employment and recent immigrants who are trying to navigate their way in a new country and learn the language. The communication barriers that are caused by untreated hearing loss can prevent these individuals from fully participating in and contributing to our society.
  • LiDIA
    • Dr. Catherine Palmer, Director of Audiology for UPMC and Vice Chair of the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh, has developed a hearing screening and assistive device named LiDIA. This device is low-cost to produce and can help improve health outcomes by screening for and treating hearing loss in healthcare settings.
  • Mission of Mercy
    • The Mission of Mercy event is a two-day free health clinic held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh that provides free dental, vision, and hearing care for patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or otherwise lacking access to quality care.
  • Voice Consortium – Hill
    • The laryngologists (voice specialized Ear Nose and Throat physicians) and voice specialized speech-language pathologists of the UPMC Voice Center have collaborated with clinicians, professors and speech-language pathology graduate students within the Pitt Communication Science and Disorders (CSD) Department to form the Pittsburgh Voice Consortium (PVC). After great deliberation and consideration of community needs, the PVC and Hill CEC team have created a series of monthly vocal health outreach events and educational sessions.
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