Nearly 200 UCLA volunteers treat the uninsured at the annual Care Harbor free clinic

When Andre Buchanan was 12, he fell from a tree and destroyed a front tooth. Although a dentist fixed the tooth at the time, it deteriorated over the many years since and  two years ago the now adult Buchanan had only a nub for a tooth.Each year at family events, his mother would nag him about the tooth. “Boy,” she’d tell him, “you ain’t fixed that tooth yet?’”Then Andre heard about the annual Care Harbor clinic in downtown Los Angeles that provides free health, dental and eye care to people who don ’t have access to it. He emerged with a perfect new tooth that he proudly showed off. He got it just in time for his mother’s 70th birthday celebration.“I had no tooth and now I have one,” he said. “Now I have a smile again.”Buchanan was among about 1,700 people who were treated at the three-day Care Harbor clinic from Oct. 13 to 15 at The Reef in downtown Los Angeles. The clinic staff included nearly 200 volunteers from UCLA, including internal medicine physicians, dentists, optometrists and nurses who served patients with conditions ranging from the relatively mundane to the serious.Care Harbor is a charity that provides free medical, dental and vision care to the underinsured and underserved.UCLA has participated in the event for eight years and will likely continue to do because there remains a need for such clinics, said Dr. Patrick Dowling, chair of the family medicine department and one of the organizers of the UCLA contingent.“We need all hand...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news