Empowering unhoused patients through comprehensive eye care

As part of a pilot initiative to provide unhoused individuals in Philadelphia with comprehensive vision care, Penn fourth-years Eric Lee, Janine Haros, and Justin Wang have organized free eye screening clinics and social assistance efforts.

The students, each in the College of Arts & Sciences and graduating this May, met through Lee while serving Philadelphia’s unhoused populations. Wang and Lee volunteered with Penn’s Shelter Health Outreach Program (SHOP), helping support unhoused individuals across the city through health screenings and vision education. Haros and Lee convened through the University City Hospital Coalition, providing eye exams and social support for unhoused patients in West Philadelphia.

The trio combined to launch their pilot through SHOP with support from Scheie Eye Institute, enlisting help from Penn clinicians, medical students, and undergraduates while partnering with local shelters and clinics.

Lee, Haros, and Wang plan to spend the next year expanding this initiative to form Shared Vision, a comprehensive program of free eye screenings, care coordination, and patient education.

Shared Vision is one of two projects selected this year to receive a President’s Engagement Prize, awarded annually to Penn fourth-year students. One-of-a-kind in U.S. higher education, the award provides $100,000 in project funding and a $50,000 living stipend for each student, enabling them to dedicate the first year after graduation to service-oriented endeavors that make a tangible impact in society.

“Janine, Eric, and Justin are improving health outcomes for people too often overlooked,” says Penn President J. Larry Jameson. “By bringing vision care and education directly into Philadelphia community shelters, Shared Vision reflects Penn’s commitment to pairing human-centered service with impactful, real-world solutions.”

Collaborating with local clinics and shelters, Shared Vision will be mentored by Rithambara Ramachandran, assistant professor of ophthalmology in the Perelman School of Medicine. The team also worked closely with Lama Al-Aswad, Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Research Professor of Ophthalmology II in the Perelman School of Medicine and professor of engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who significantly contributed to developing the Shared Vision project design.

“We hope to help patients who would typically be excluded from traditional health care systems finally be able to access the care that they need,” says Wang, a biology major from Seattle. He notes that many of the 50,000-plus Philadelphia residents living with vision impairment are also unhoused, facing competing survival needs and compounded eye health risks. Shared Vision will focus on improving preventive eye care and related support for this vulnerable population “throughout the care continuum.”

Bringing preventive vision care into the community

Lee will oversee eye screenings, Wang will manage care coordination, and Haros will lead patient education. Eye screening equipment can be difficult to transport, says Ramachandran, so the team plans to leverage Scheie’s new mobile van dedicated to bringing comprehensive vision care directly to Philadelphia’s unhoused communities. Al-Aswad was instrumental in leading the creation and development of the Scheie mobile unit.

Lee will also amplify outreach efforts to Philadelphia area homeless shelters and help connect more unhoused patients with preventive eye care services at Scheie. Lee notes Shared Vision aims to screen for the four leading causes of blindness: glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.

“These are comorbid with other chronic health conditions that a lot of Americans experience—and if they advance far enough, they’re irreversible,” says Lee, a biochemistry and biophysics dual-degree major.

Wang will assist patients with access to insurance, nutritious food, transportation between clinics and shelters, as well as help with scheduling visits and follow-up care. One long-term project goal, he says, is to integrate these efforts into Scheie’s workflow.

“We would want to involve even more doctors at the Scheie Eye Hospital and have this project be embedded permanently into Penn’s ecosystem,” Lee adds.

In addition to improving patient access, Haros will produce educational materials, lead interactive workshops, and promote tailored health communication about the importance of preventive vision care.

These endeavors will aim to provide unhoused patients with “more than just clearer vision, but also the education and agency to understand and protect their eye health,” says Haros, a health and societies major from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania.

Haros notes they will measure project success by tracking quantifiable data such as number of SEPTA passes provided, homeless shelters reached, and patients screened, including how long it takes patients to get referrals.

An eye for future impact

Experiential learning at Scheie, access to Penn faculty mentors, and robust opportunities for Philadelphia-based community engagement have powered the team’s success.

“Learning in the classroom about the barriers unhoused people face and then seeing how that affects my local community at the clinic has really motivated me for this project,” Haros says, noting how Penn professors have encouraged her to pursue this work.

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Wang notes how Penn students are “embedded in these greater systems beyond just the University” and encouraged to embrace their civic responsibility to West Philadelphia and beyond. “It’s such an honor to not just give back to the community for a year, but to work on a project that we all really believe in and have been working on for so long,” he says.

The team shares that Ramachandran’s experience with community ophthalmology has been essential to project development. Her guidance, Lee says, has provided them with a “golden chance to expand this initiative.”

Shared Vision is “setting up a legacy that I’m hoping will result in strong community partnerships that will continue beyond their years at Penn,” Ramachandran says.

Ramachandran highlights the proactive and persistent approach her mentees take in working to improve comprehensive eye care for unhoused populations across the city.

“It is very easy to think this problem is just too big or complex for any one group of people to tackle, but Eric, Janine, and Justin don’t let that stop them,” Ramachandran says. “They’re going to think of solutions I’ve never thought about, and I think that’s amazing.”