Low-cost eye care for those with limited funds is available in Southern California through an optometry college and two groups working with the school’s doctors.

The Southern California College of Optometry in Fullerton provides vision checks and some treatments to those who qualify through its clinic, staffed by students supervised by their instructors, all licensed optometrists, said George Comer, SCCO associate professor and chief of Primary Eye Care Optometry Service.

Care is available to patients who are low income according to a sliding scale, he said.
 
Instead of providing eye checkups and basic vision care, the Southern California Lions Eye Institute focuses on expensive surgeries for people who cannot afford them, said William E. Heaton, Jr., SCCO’s vice president for advancement.

Low-income individuals get referrals to SCCO from the more than 300 Southern California Lions Clubs, and these patients can get  complete eye care at low or no cost, he said.
 
The Foundation for the Preservation of Sight, an adjunct of SCCO, was started by Carling H. Childs, a board member of the college.  While offering some surgery, it leans toward providing low-vision devices for people who have lost much of their sight, Heaton said.

When he realized that Medicare and some other insurance companies often do not cover eye care — including sometimes sight-saving surgery —  for serious vision problems, Childs initiated the foundation to fill the gap.

Initially, he gave the college several laser units that could be used by college ophthalmologists for on-site surgeries. “This way the patients would receive surgical care and the students could observe first-hand surgical procedures which would better prepare them to explain options to their patients,” Heaton said. What a win-win deal.”

Southern California College of Optometry Fullerton clinic (714) 449-7401
Optometric Center of Los Angeles (323) 234-9137
Lions Club Eye Institute (800) 647-6638
Foundation for the Preservation of Sight (714) 449-7464