Optometry students at UAB provide numerous screenings and comprehensive eye exams at sites across Alabama and the region through community outreach. Students, faculty and residents collectively examine nearly 25,000 patients per year.
Community Eye Care
Community Eye Care (CEC), the mobile community outreach component of UAB Eye Care, provides complete eye exams for lower income or underinsured patients in clinics throughout Birmingham, Alabama, and in rural parts of the state—particularly in the Black Belt. Students participate in numerous eye exams and vision screenings at many area schools, day care centers, senior citizen centers, community events and local shelters.
CEC operates a clinic within the Jefferson County Department of Health’s Western Health Center in Midfield, Alabama. Optometry students and faculty also make weekly trips to the UAB School of Nursing’s Providing Access to Healthcare (PATH) Clinic, where they provide eye care to patients with poorly-controlled diabetes who do not have insurance.
CEC also provides care at The Foundry in Bessemer, Alabama, the Lovelady Center in East Lake in Birmingham and United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham Adult Day Program at LincPoint in Homewood, Alabama.
Through the annual Gift of Sight event held each December, students join faculty and staff in providing hundreds of residents from Birmingham shelters with a free eye examination and glasses.
Student Organizations
In addition to clinical education through Community Eye Care, students at the UAB School of Optometry provide care for communities locally, within the US and across the world.
Fellowship of Christian Optometrists
Students who participate in the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists annually travel to parts of the world in need to provide eye care. In 2017, students and faculty traveled to Jordan to provide vision screenings and eyeglasses to Syrian refugees.
Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity
Each year, UAB School of Optometry students who volunteer with Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) travel throughout the U.S. and internationally to to provide comprehensive eye exams to those in rural and low-income communities.
National Optometric Student Association
UAB School of Optometry students with the National Optometric Student Association, which is an international service organization dedicated to increasing access to eye care for minority and underserved communities, participate annually in vision screenings and health fairs in the Birmingham metro area.