California churches provide free eye care

A pair of churches in Oakland, California, teamed together to provide free eye exams to the uninsured residents of the Golden State this week. According to The Oakland Tribune, the World Impact and Christian Layman Churches offered free care to around 500 people during the four-day event.

"We care about the community, and this is our way of responding to the community's needs," pastor at Christian Layman Church, Andrew Huang, told the news source.

This was the second year the two parishes joined forces, but this year's gathering was more than twice the size of the previous event. The exams were sponsored by Vision Services Plan, which has donated portable equipment to numerous other charitable events as well. Eye exams were conducted by optometry students from nearby UC Berkley, and the service was especially important in this region as the news provider reports that 8.2 million Californians are without health insurance.

AllAboutVision.com recommends getting a regular eye exam because it gives doctors an opportunity to do much more than check a prescription. Eye exams can be an effective way to catch early warning signs of eye diseases such as glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy.