Vision Care After the Floods in Planada

Roughly a year ago, back-to-back storms and catastrophic floods forced the full evacuation of the community of Planada, CA, located in Merced County. Shortly after, Tzu Chi Northwest volunteers launched a robust relief effort that brought emergency financial aid directly into the hands of displaced residents.

But, for a community composed of mainly Latin American immigrants, many who are employed in the agricultural industry, recovery has been difficult, leaving many non-urgent healthcare needs to fall by the wayside, including vision care. Enter Tzu Chi Medical’s Vision Mobile.

Last spring, the Tzu Chi Medical team traveled to Planada along Highway 99 to host a Vision Mobile Clinic that served flood-impacted residents in need of prescription glasses. Tzu Chi Medical volunteer Jocelyn Chao explains that “if a child needs to get glasses, it can be quite expensive; a pair of glasses can cost close to one or two hundred dollars.” But, that’s not all.

Olivia Gómez, Community Liaison at the Planada School District, explains that the town’s agricultural focus makes certain needs harder to meet: “the need for the services is great because… So parents go out to the fields, work; it’s something they don’t have, the time or the medical insurance to go to a health center and get these services for their kids.”

See how we’re meeting those needs in our latest video and support this valuable work at https://donate.tzuchi.us/cause/sanjose