A FREE eye care clinic for people experiencing homelessness has opened in Edinburgh this week.
Run by eye health charity Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP) and funded by Specsavers, this clinic will be operated on new Wellness Floor at the Crisis Skylight Centre in Canongate.
It will include the eye clinic and additional rooms to allow Crisis to offer more health services to its members.
Although it opened its doors last year, the Edinburgh Crisis Skylight did not have enough funding for these facilities until Specsavers financed the new suites.
VCHP, Crisis and Specsavers are doing further work with figures in the industry to request changes in government policies to allow people experiencing homelessness to receive needed eye care.
In celebration of this opening, a special event attended by over 60 people from VCHP, Crisis, Specsavers and other industry professionals took place.
This event involved a tour of these new facilities as well as a chance to ask experts questions about the support provided by the centre.
Specsavers Scottish Divisional Chair, Jenny Stephenson, stated: “We are delighted to help VCHP open its very first clinic in Scotland.
“Our founding purpose is to improve eye care for all, but for those experiencing homelessness it can sometimes be difficult to get access to the eye health care they need.
“The opening of the Wellness Floor celebrates an impactful collaboration with Crisis and VCHP with the ultimate ambition of making care equitable and accessible for all, regardless of their circumstances.”
VCHP Founder and Chair of Trustees Elaine Styles said: “This new clinic will be our tenth in total and all are staffed and run by volunteers, who provide professional ophthalmic services to people experiencing homelessness.
“It’s a true testament to what our long-term partnership with Crisis and Specsavers is achieving.”
Mark Kennedy, Director of the Crisis Skylight in Edinburgh, stated: “Crisis has been running frontline services for people experiencing homelessness in Scotland for more than a decade but this new clinic will allow us to do even more for the people we work with.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Specsavers and VCHP for their support. Having the clinic available for our members is invaluable in helping people to improve their eye health and, ultimately, to help them on their journey out of homelessness.”
