CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman’s Good Samaritan Health Clinic on Wednesday hosted a unit of the Alabama Lions Sight Mobile Eye Program, offering low-cost eye exams and glasses, and even free eye care to those who could not afford to pay. Optometrist Dr. Ryan Price, assisted by Alabama Lions Sight representative Lioness Catherine Haggard and Lions Milford Parrish, Don Smith and Jerry Bonner, saw a stream of patients throughout the day, performing eye exams and helping people pick out glasses.
“Alabama Lions Sight also has, in conjunction with the (Callahan) Eye Clinic in Birmingham, they will do surgeries at reduced cost,” said Haggard. “They schedule these surgeries, they schedule the people to see the doctors at Callahan, and follow up with them to make sure that the surgery goes well and everything’s okay. A lot of people who, for instance, couldn’t afford cataract surgery, that are basically blind because they have cataracts, can have surgery at a reduce cost, or Alabama Lions Sight picks it up if they have no other way to pay, so that they have vision again, and they can work and do whatever they want to do in their life.”
Alabama Lions Sight is based in Birmingham, and has two mobile eyecare units, one serving north Alabama and the other serving the southern half of the state. The organization has received grants from the state legislature to serve an average of 4,000 patients per year, with over 400 seen in Cullman County last year.
The cost for Lions Sight eye care is modest – $20 for an exam, $60 for an exam and single vision or bifocal glasses, $80 for an exam with progressive lens glasses – with services offered free of charge to those who cannot pay at all.
Good Samaritan Executive Director Jolanda Hutson told The Tribune, “Good Samaritan Clinic has a longstanding partnership with the Lions Club, and this is just one more way that we are partnering to better serve our community. We hope to continue this service in the months to come as it truly is meeting a need. We already have a full schedule for our next clinic on Sept. 20, and are currently scheduling participants for Nov. 15.”
The service is not limited to just current Good Samaritan patients. For more information or to schedule an appointment during the Nov. 15, 2023, visit, call 256-255-5963.
For more on Good Samaritan Health Clinic and its services for uninsured patients, visit www.goodsamaritancullman.com or call 256-775-1389.
