Nearly 2,000 people treated at free health clinic in Indio over three-day span

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Hundreds of people looking for important medical and dental care made their way to Indio throughout the weekend.

News Channel 3's Athena Jreij first reported on this year's Coachella Valley Clinic on Friday. Hosted at the Empire Polo Grounds, California Careforce, in partnership with Goldenvoice, brought the clinic to Indio for its 17th year in the Coachella Valley.

Services provided included dental (fillings, extractions, cleanings, x-rays, and limited number of stayplates, dentures, root canals, and crowns); vision (vision acuity tests and eyeglasses made onsite); and medical (basic physical, blood pressure and blood glucose screening).

Other organizations also provided mammography services, pap smears, immunizations, and STI & HIV testing.

Ambassador and co-chair for California Careforce, Rudy Morales, said as of Saturday, 1,500 people had filtered into the clinic. He estimated, in total, 2,000 patients would be seen by the end of the day on Sunday – the final day of the event.

Some challenges continued on the last day of the clinic, including a lack of volunteers for its vision care. Morales said vision was fully staffed for the first two days, but just one optometrist was available Sunday afternoon. He said as a volunteer-based organization, the clinic depends on the availability of doctors, and with less attendance on Sunday, some slowdowns were happening with vision care.

Other services, like dental and medical care, remained fully staffed on Sunday.

Ahead of the clinic opening its doors, there were also some concerns that fears surrounding immigration enforcement could impact attendance. But according to Morales, that didn't appear to be a factor in this year's turnout.

"Maybe [they’re] a little reserved, but they're coming out and getting treatment and getting the service that they need," Morales explained.

With so many people getting treatment, Morales said he was happy his organization could provide critical care to hundreds in the valley – especially amid rising healthcare costs.

"It's something grateful and I'm very happy that we’re able to do this, the community, because end of the day, it's money," he said. "You see many of them don’t have insurance. Copays are expensive nowadays. And if we can give the free services, I'm very happy to see all these people getting [it for] free."