Pharmacy Students Provide Care at HOPE Clinic on Duluth Campus

The student-run HOPE (Health of People Everywhere) Clinic recently opened on the Duluth campus. Operating under an affiliation agreement with Churches United in Ministry (CHUM), pharmacy and medical students see uninsured patients who access CHUM services at its drop-in center for homeless and low-income people on Tuesdays from 3-5 p.m. More than 100 different people visit the center on an average day.

Pharmacy faculty and faculty physicians in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Duluth supervise the students as they complete history and physical examinations, treat acute problems and make referrals to the Lake Superior Community Clinic, the Duluth Family Medicine Residency, the Center for American Indian Resources or the Twin Ports VA Clinic. Students see up to five people every Tuesday. Teams of medical and pharmacy students have diagnosed and treated conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, contusions, sprains, diabetes, hypertension, mental health issues and minor health problems.

The HOPE Clinic gives students experience taking medical histories, doing physical examinations, arriving at diagnoses, working in professional teams, educating patients and managing a clinic. And they give back to the community through their voluntary service and meet health care needs that would otherwise go unmet.

Excerpted from the Spring 2009 issue of The Record.