Fort Worth’s Cornerstone Assistance Network Cataract Procedure Center has won a 2020 John P. McGovern Champion of Health Award from the Texas Medical Association Foundation. The center provides free cataract procedures to low income uninsured patients.
Cornerstone won the secondary prize and $3,000 or their efforts.“This award will enable the Cornerstone Assistance Network to offer more free cataract procedures to low- and zero-income uninsured people, restoring sight and providing life-changing access to employment and independence,” said CAN Executive Director Mike Doyle via release.
Patients and volunteer physicians come from all over the state for the free procedures. They have performed more than 300 cataract procedures since 1992 and did 100 in 2019 alone. Most patients are in their mid-fifties and below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, and lack health insurance. Texas has the worst uninsured rate in the nation, and North Texas has a concentrated number of the uninsured.
