‘A gift beyond compare’: Wesley Health Center receives retinal eye camera
Amanda Steen | Herald-Standard
An image of a retina is pictured at the Wesley Health Center, a free clinic in Connellsvile. The clinic was able to purchase the camera that produced this image through a Lions Club International Foundation Standard grant.
Amanda Steen | Herald-Standard
A camera that is able to screen for the disease Diabetic Retinopathy is pictured on Sept. 24 at the Wesley Health Center, a free clinic in Connellsville. If a screening determines that a patient has the disease, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) will perform a surgery at no charge to the patient.
CONNELLSVILLE — Marilyn Weaver anxiously waited for the early-morning delivery.
After more than a year of meetings, presentations and grant writing, Weaver, the executive director of the Wesley Health Center, welcomed a $40,000 retinal eye camera through the doors of the free healthcare clinic.
“I haven’t worked this hard for something since I was in college,” she said.
The camera, which has the ability to look at the arteries of the eye, is able to detect high blood pressure, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy — a disease that can cause a person to go blind if left untreated.
“All that is possible by looking at the scan of the eye,” Weaver said. “There’s no other technology to see the actual blood vessels and arteries of the body.”
The incidence of diabetes in Fayette County is the highest in the state at 12 percent, and the disease touches all demographic groups.
According to a study conducted by Lawrence Barker, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fayette County is part of a regional belt titled the “Diabetes Belt,” that includes 644 counties in 15 states in which at least 11 percent of residents have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Weaver said that 45 percent of the clinic’s Fayette County patients are either pre-diabetic or diabetic.
It was for this reason that Weaver made a push to have this camera installed at the health center.
“Obviously it is a big thing here at the Wesley Health Center,” she said. “We feel blessed to be able to give this new service to our patients.”
The camera was obtained through a Lions Club International Foundation Standard grant. The grant provided $20,642 toward the purchase of the camera, while the rest of the funds were raised locally.
“I had a meeting with a variety of people who were interested in the camera,” Weaver said. “When I realized this was something that I wanted very badly for the Wesley Health Center, and that the Lions were involved in sight, I immediately went to our Connellsville Lions Club, and they got behind it immediately.”
The local club made the initial donation, and 11 other clubs in District 14M followed.
Paula Grubach, Wesley Health Center board president, said Weaver was a key player throughout the entire process.
“Larry (Kiefer) and Marilyn spent countless nights presenting to the clubs in the district asking for support of this project,” Grubach said.
District 14M covers Fayette, Greene, Washington and Somerset counties.
“It was a big celebration for us because this is a big grant,” said Eric Dolfi, immediate past district governor. “This isn’t a $1,000, $2,000 grant — this is a $20,000 grant.”
Brad Geyer, zone chairman, agreed.
“In terms of our district, we haven’t seen a grant this large from International in some time,” Geyer said. “So it’s important on many levels.”
Chevron, the Marilyn Kiefer Foundation and two “We Serve” grants through the Lions also contributed to funding the project.
“The good part about this is, they (the Wesley Health Center) won’t have to worry about this,” Dolfi said. “They won’t have a bill for this. This was given to them, and for years to come we will support this project.”
Once a picture of a person’s eye is taken by the camera, the picture will be sent to and analyzed by Dr. Evan Waxman with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). If a person does suffer from diabetic retinopathy, Waxman will perform a surgery free of charge, Weaver said.
She said all of the center’s diabetic patients will be screened for the disease.
The decision to grant the health center the funds for the camera was made in July, and the camera was delivered on Sept. 24.
“We are feeling very blessed to have been able to get this grant,” Weaver said.
And the timing of the grant couldn’t have been more perfect. This year, the health center is celebrating its 20th anniversary of providing free primary health care to those ages 19 to 65 who are without health insurance
Although there have been some close calls, Weaver said the doors to the clinic have never closed.
According to Weaver, the center has built collaborative relationships with doctors in Fayette County, including Dr. John Ellis and Dr. Frank Jacobyansky, Adagio Health, Connellsville Counseling and Excela Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant. Additionally, the clinic added an elevator last year to accommodate the physically disabled. Without the elevator, the center would not have been able to provide the retinal eye screenings or the oral health screenings, which began earlier this year, as both of the newly added services are located on the second floor of the center.
Weaver said she sees the clinic continuing into the foreseeable future but said the center will soon lose Dr. Richard Cook of Uniontown, who has volunteered his time at the center once a month for the past five years. Weaver said the center is always looking for area physicians to volunteer their time in addition to the center’s part-time paid nurse practitioner.
Grubach said the center originally began as an all-volunteer project but has since lost the volunteer base.
Even with the Affordable Care Act going into effect, Weaver said the center will be there for those who fall through the cracks. Grubach added that the number of patients who visit the center has steadily increased.
In celebration of the center’s 20th anniversary, an open house and re-dedication ceremony will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Weaver said Mayor Charles Matthews and State Rep. Deberah Kula, D-North Union Township, will speak at the event.