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Medical Students Secure Grant Funding for Free Clinic

By Maureen Mack

March 7, 2012

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The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a $2,800, one-year grant from the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation to provide patient care at the Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured, a joint venture of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Columbia St. Mary’s.

A group of medical students, who also work as managers at the clinic, applied for two community-oriented grants from the foundation to support the volunteer services offered.

“Even with physicians and students donating their time, our patients were still struggling,” said Karen Hansen, a second-year medical student and manager of the clinic. “The cost of disease management supplies was preventing patients from managing their disease at home, often resulting in visits to the emergency room.”

The grant funds will be used to purchase diabetes testing supplies for patients, to provide bus passes for patient transportation, and to secure continuous care for patients with complex medical needs.

The Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured was founded by medical students from the Medical College in 1991, and has since provided free primary medical care to nearly a thousand uninsured patients every year. The clinic is located at the Columbia St. Mary’s Family Health Center in Milwaukee. Volunteer physicians and medical students staff the clinic. Additionally, the students have been working with Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin to increase and streamline clinic patients’ access to specialty care.

The Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured sees uninsured adult patients from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The clinic is located at 1121 E. North Avenue in Milwaukee.

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