Patients Line Up For Free Clinic Wristbands

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Thousands of people lined up at the LA Sports Arena on Sunday morning to receive wristbands that will allow them to receive services at the annual Care Harbor free clinic, which begins Thursday.

The four-day clinic, which also takes place at the arena, provides free medical, dental and vision care to under-served populations, as well as follow-up care and assistance with insurance signups. It will be open Thursday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

On Sunday morning, KCAL9's Joy Benedict spoke with some of the people seeking wristbands as well as Care Harbor President Don Manelli, who expects about 4,000 people to receive services this week.

"Our biggest year was about 3,700," he said. "We're doing as much as we can in a building this size."

Manelli said Care Harbor is able to provide the services thanks to the medical professionals who volunteer their time for the clinic.

"We've added more services," he said. "As health care changes we've seen the need to add more services. We're doing partial dentures and dentistry this year. We have oral cancer screening. We have a much bigger staff of medical specialists on site. We're still looking for volunteers believe it or not, general dentists. We could use a few on Thursday."

Manelli said insurance signups are a big part of the event as well.

"I think a lot of people that could have Obamacare don't have it because they don't understand that they are eligible," he said. "We have a big component on the arena floor that is educating them to the opportunities. It's Obamacare, it's CalFresh. A lot of programs. We signed up a lot last year, and we expect to that this year too."