Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh clinic offers range of health services at no cost

PITTSBURGH — The Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh clinic opened Friday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, offering a range of health services at no cost.

The annual two-day event provides dental services such as fillings, root canals and tooth extractions for free. There are also vision and hearing tests, along with free prescription glasses and hearing aids.

Among those receiving care was Rita Kozel, who came Friday for a hearing test and left with a new pair of hearing aids.

“It feels wonderful. I love it,” Kozel said. “And I’m grateful that this program exists.”

Dr. Richard Celko helped spearhead the Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh clinic nearly 10 years ago.

“To think that this was only to be a handful of dentists and a couple of assistants at one time, to grow into this type of service — offering eye services, hearing, free glasses, free hearing aids — it’s just wonderful. I never expected it,” Celko said.

“We don’t care how they got into the situation that they’re in,” Celko added. “We just want to help and be part of their solution.”

Celko says that, often, identifying dental complications can help prevent more health issues in the future.

“We identify a lot of systemic diseases like diabetes, or you can say, ‘Hey, that doesn’t look right, maybe you need to see a physician.’”

Organizers expect to serve just shy of 2,000 patients, all served by volunteers.

“It’s just beautiful, it’s such a great outshining of humanity for a common cause, everyone here is like-minded, they want the best for the patients. We treat them all with respect and dignity,” said Celko.

Mission of Mercy says they will close the clinic Friday and Saturday when they reach capacity. The clinic also opens at 6 a.m. Saturday, and is first-come, first-served.

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