JFC sees the need to care for patients with vision challenges

Published on Monday, June 5, 2023

By: Ruth Cummins

Photos By: Jay Ferchaud/ UMMC Communications

When Marquise McClenty had problems with his vision, he found help at no cost from a caring and enthusiastic team in a professional setting – and conveniently, on a Sunday afternoon.

“My eye won’t stop watering, and I’m having trouble seeing,” said McClenty, who received treatment at the Jackson Free Clinic, a nonprofit clinic in the heart of Jackson’s Midtown run by students from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The JFC offers free medical, dental and psychiatric services, physical therapy and occupational therapy on Saturdays to uninsured patients ages 18 and up in the Jackson metropolitan area. Its newest in-house addition, the Vision Clinic, operates several times monthly, based on availability of a partnering community optometrist.

When the Vision Clinic opened to patients in March 2023, the waiting room was full. Students from UMMC’s School of Medicine overseen by optometrists saw nine patients that day. “Every single patient got a free pair of glasses,” said Jordan Coggins, a third-year medical student and JFC’s director of specialty services operations.

Literally, Coggins’ vision for an eye care clinic grew from seeing first-hand an unmet patient need.

“I asked patients, ‘If we offered anything else, what do you wish it was?’ I wanted to fill the gaps for our patients’ needs. They always said vision and glasses. They wanted to be able to see again,” she said.

If a JFC patient was having problems with their sight, Coggins said, “we were referring them to the Mississippi Vision Foundation of the Mississippi Optometric Association. But, we realized our patients weren’t going. They had trouble with transportation, or were homeless, and it wasn’t convenient because it wasn’t on weekends.”

Not having a ride or insurance that covers eye exams, including checks for both vision and eye disease, “means people don’t have access,” said Dr. Thais Tonore Walden, medical director of the Jackson Free Clinic. Walden retired from UMMC in 2019 as a professor in the Department of Family Medicine.

“Any time the students here can offer a service that is not being met for their clientele, they work toward it,” Coggins said. “Usually, there’s a student who is caring for a need, and who starts the advocacy for it.”

Coggins became that student.

She began researching resources, building new relationships and making connections that made a Vision Clinic come together all but in the blink of an eye.

“I Googled phoropter,” Coggins said. That’s an ophthalmic testing device that contains different lenses. Patients look through them so that the provider can measure refraction of their eyes and determine if they need glasses, and if so, the exact vision correction needed for each eye.

She discovered that the American Association of Corporate Optometrists (AACO) donates such equipment to third-world countries. “I emailed them and told them our story, and that I was interested in opening a vision clinic,” Coggins said.

“They emailed back within an hour and said not only do we have a phoropter for you, but we have a whole room of equipment we can give you, about $60,000 worth of equipment. We paid to have it shipped here.”

Dr. Vincent Facchiano, an optometrist and former AACO president, lent his friendship and expertise, guiding Coggins on networking with other sources of help. And, the Mississippi Vision Foundation embraced the effort as an opportunity to live out its mission.

“When Jordan reached out to the Foundation, we jumped at the chance to help,” said Sarah Link, executive director of the Mississippi Vision Foundation and Mississippi Optometric Association. “The mission and vision of the Foundation is to help ‘Mississippians See a Better Future.’

“Almost every optometrist typically volunteers outside of office hours to make sure they extend vision care to their community,” Link said.

That group includes Dr. Josh Patrick, a Laurel optometrist and Mississippi Vision Foundation board president. Patrick and Dr. Tiffany McElroy, another optometrist in his practice, spent the afternoon of June 4 at the JFC, partnering with medical students to see 10 patients.

The Foundation “had been looking for a way to give back, and thought this would be an excellent way to fill a need,” Patrick said. “The reason most of us go into this profession is to help people, and not just at your own clinic. We are called to help and give back.”

Olive Branch optometrist and Foundation board member Dr. Walter Pang, who serves as the board’s JFC Task Force chair, also was instrumental in the clinic’s formation and launch, Coggins said. “He traveled here three hours to make sure our equipment worked, and he’s donated his own equipment to help us add on to our services,” she said.

And, the JFC removed another access hurdle when it found grant money to transport patients to and from the Vision Clinic.

Patients who need glasses select their frames at the end of their appointment and receive the finished product about two weeks later.

“You have patients who say, ‘Oh, my goodness. I didn’t realize I needed glasses,’ or ‘I needed them, but I just didn’t have a way to get them,’” said third-year medical student Jody Morgan, the JFC’s chief operations officer for specialty services. “The best they could do is go to a dollar store and get the strongest readers prescription they could find.

“They are incredibly grateful. They get their glasses back, and they are crying on the phone with us. They are so happy.”

Just being able to see, Coggins said, makes a huge difference in her patients’ quality of life. It’s also a safety issue for Paul Pappas of Jackson, who came to the JFC June 4 and was fitted for new eyeglasses before he left.

“I’m noticing a lot of changes with aging,” Pappas said as he underwent a refraction test to measure his prescription for eyeglasses. “I don’t read street signs as well, and I find myself squinting a lot.”

Students sometimes find evidence of eye disease or injury and can refer those patients to a higher level of care. “We’ve been able to catch glaucoma and early diabetic changes in vision,” Coggins said.

Tiquita McClenty accompanied her son to the Vision Clinic. “They’re nice,” Marquise McClenty said of his caregivers.

They’re so much more, his mom said.

“They take a personal interest in you. You know that they care,” she said. “For them to take their time to do this on a Saturday or a Sunday … That says a whole lot to me.”

The Vision Clinic is just one more example of the JFC meeting the needs of those most vulnerable in the community. “Jordan is amazing,” Link said. “She has championed this from the beginning. She took it upon herself and found a solution. That determination and tenacity has made the clinic what it is today.”

“I knew our patients needed this. I wanted it for them,” Coggins said. “No patient, regardless of income, should have to go without seeing."