A pop-up clinic will be hosted by the University of Connecticut Medical Clinic Club and the nonprofit Remote Area Medical in Willimantic, Conn., on March 8 and March 9. The clinic, which will be hosted at Windham Middle School, will provide medical, dental and vision care completely free of charge.
The clinic will open at 6 a.m. on both days, and “services [will be] provided on a first-come, first-served basis – at no cost – with doors closing once the day’s capacity is reached,” according to a UConn press release.
The president and community host group lead of the Medical Clinic Club, 6th-semester physiology and neurobiology major Cameron Costa, talked about the clinic in an interview with the Daily Campus.
Costa said that the clinic doesn’t require patients to show any identification.
“You can just show up, we don’t take any identification at all,” Costa said. “Patients have that privacy when it comes to the clinic; they can be seen and then they can leave. We’re not collecting any sort of data on our patients at all, we really just want you to get free care.”
Costa said that the medical, dental and vision care will be “general check-ups.” Patients will be provided with physical exams, dental cleaning and the opportunity to receive prescription glasses if needed. Costa also said that the clinic will “connect [patients] with that follow-up care so they can continue getting that care after.”
According to Costa, once patients are done with their check-up “they are able to go through our resource hallway and take whatever they need.” Items in the resource hallway will include “free diapers, baby food, general hygiene items, women’s menstrual products, educational resources, non-perishable foods, fresh fruit and so much more,” according to Costa.
Costa estimated that the cost to host the clinic is upwards of $30,000. To raise this money the medical clinic club had to apply for grants and create fundraising efforts, including reaching out to local companies to sponsor the clinic. According to Costa, “[we’re] constantly looking at ways that we can get money to help with the clinic.”
This is the second year that the Medical Clinic Club is helping run the Willimantic pop-up clinic. The clinic previously provided over $150,000 worth of free healthcare to over 200 patients, according to Costa.
“A lot of patients expressed that it was one of their first times getting medical care in the area… we had a couple of immigrants who said that they hadn’t received medical care at all since they came to the U.S. and this was one of their first times,” Costa said. “It definitely instilled that sort of importance in us that this is really something that the community needs and it’s something that they wanted and we’re glad that we’re able to help with that.”
More information about the clinic can be found at www.RAMusa.org.