In 1929, fourth-year students were required to work in Wilmer's Ophthalmology Dispensary, which saw about 100 cases each afternoon. An elective course was also offered in Dispensary Work. Writing in Revival: Health, Wealth, and Population in the Early Days of the Industrial Revolution (1926), Mabel Craven Buer said of the dispensary movement, “The Dispensary dealt with a large number of patients and ministered to every kind of disease. The dispensary doctor learnt at first hand how the poor lived.”
Today, patients from the East Baltimore community and beyond come to the Patient Access Center for the Eye (PACE) for a full range of ophthalmology services. There, supervised by dedicated faculty, Wilmer residents follow their patients through their entire three-year residency in a weekly continuity clinic.