A host of free health care services will be available Saturday, May 9, at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville for the community’s underserved population.
It will be followed a week later with a separate opportunity for free comprehensive dental care services at the same 1000 Water St. location.
The first event, Ascension St. Vincent’s Medical Mission at Home, will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. No insurance or appointments will be required.
The event is designed to support people who are uninsured, underinsured or “facing barriers to traditional care,” according to Ascension, a nonprofit Catholic health system.
Free services will include:
Also, the Feeding Northeast Florida food bank will provide food distribution.
About 42% of households in Duval County live above the poverty line but cannot afford necessities, including adequate health care, or they are living in poverty, according to a United Way of Northeast Florida report.
Jacksonville-based Ascension St. Vincent’s operates four hospitals and about 90 other sites of care and employs about 5,300 people.
Medical Mission at Home is one of the health care system’s flagship community impact programs. In fiscal year 2024, Ascension provided about $202.2 million in community benefit and other care for vulnerable people.
For more information, go to ascension.org.
Florida Dental Association Foundation to offer free services
The following weekend the state Dental Association Foundation’s Florida Mission of Mercy event will begin at 7 a.m. Friday, May 15, and Saturday, May 16, also at the Prime Osborn.
Professional dental care will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Patients should arrive early; a ticketing system will allow individuals to check in and receive a ticket with a specific time to return for care. Services will include cleanings, fillings, extractions, pediatric dentistry and root canals.
Local veterans will be allowed to pre-register online on Thursday, May 14, to receive priority care. They should go to flamom.org and click the red “Veterans’ Dental Event” button. The Mission of Mercy events are supported by the association’s member dentists, community volunteers and charitable benefactors. The event is in a different location each year.
Last year’s event in Daytona Beach served about 1,500 patients with donated care valued at nearly $2 million. Previous events provided more than 17,000 patients with donated dental care valued at about $19 million.
For more information go to floridadental.org/foundation.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Nonprofits to provide free health, dental care events in Jacksonville
Reporting by Beth Reese Cravey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
