Medical Students Open Up a New Clinic

Medical students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine have long been committed to providing health care and services to the underserved. Since 2007, students in the Equal Access Birmingham (EAB) student organization have staffed a free clinic in Avondale.
 

That experience proved invaluable in EAB's efforts to launch a new free clinic. The clinic, located in the Church of the Reconciler, is set to open on November 11, 2012. Students will provide primary care to residents in the Jefferson County Housing Authority Shelter Care Plus program.

“The new EAB clinic will add a medical component, providing ongoing primary care services to the program participants as they work to become self-sufficient and ultimately graduate and move on from the program,” says Richard Cockrum in the UAB News. Richard, a second-year medical student, is the president of EAB.

Does your medical school have a student-run clinic? Our book, Success in Medical School: Insider Advice for the Preclinical Years, has information to help you start a clinic.

Student-run health clinics serve a vital need in the community. In a recent survey of allopathic schools, researchers determined that the total number of patient-physician visits to these clinics exceeded 36,000 per year. Clearly, UAB students are doing their part. Congratulations UAB!