News and Updates

This article was published on cleveland.com
posted by Diane Suchetka / Plain Dealer Reporter July 31, 2009 19:52PM
When Deborah Wallace wheeled herself into the W.O. Walker Center early Sunday morning for MedWorks’ free weekend of health care, she was hoping for relief from knees that are so swollen and painful she can barely walk.
She left [...]

This article was posted by Paul Thomas at wkyc.com on 7/27/2009.

UNIVERSITY CIRCLE — It was a busy, but satisfying weekend for hundreds of doctors, nurses and health care professionals who volunteered to give free exams and treatment to the uninsured.

More than 1,600 patient vision, dental and medical appointments were logged during the 2-day MedWorks event at the W.O. Walker building in University Heights and the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine.

Hundreds of Cleveland families received free health care this past weekend as part of an all-volunteer effort coordinated by MedWorks (www.medworksusa.org). It was the first time Cleveland’s major health care institutions came together in a single event to treat the uninsured and underinsured.

The event took place at the W. O. Walker Center and Case Dental School near University Circle, and provided more than 1600 appointments during the two-day event held this past weekend, July 25-26. Appointments were scheduled by patients in advance to see medical professionals through volunteers from University Hospitals of Cleveland, The Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth System, the Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine and many of Cleveland’s private practitioners. Some individuals benefitted from multiple appointments with a variety of the 20 subspecialties represented at the Clinic that weekend.

CLEVELAND — It’s probably the first time hundreds of people have ever been lined up outside the Walker Building at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning. Many Clevelanders took advantage of free health care at the first ever Medworks event.

Some of the patients who showed up had not seen a doctor in years. Quite a few even had dangerously high blood pressure, but had no idea.

Senator Sherrod Brown helped register patients and got a firsthand look at what’s wrong with the nation’s health care system.