BUIES CREEK, North Carolina – the Campbell Community Care Clinic joined the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NCAFCC) last month and received a grant of $20,000 for the clinics operation.
The clinic is located at the Campbell University Health Center and is a free clinic for uninsured patients run and staffed by over 150 Campbell medical, pharmacy and physician assistant students and faculty volunteers. The clinic is among the few osteopathic and interprofessional student-run free clinics in the country. To date, the clinic has had over 300 office visits and seen over 100 patients. While the clinic is housed at Campbell University, its operational budget is dependent on private support. The clinic recently received a Family Medicine Cares grant from the American Association of Family Physicians to purchase supplies for the clinic including a refrigerator for vaccines and other medications that require refrigeration. The NCAFCC grant is the fourth grant the clinic has received since its inception and will be used for the ongoing operations of the clinic including providing laboratory services, pharmacy services, and other medical supplies for the benefit of our patients.
Paul Pikman and Julie Aldrich, 2015 student co-directors of the clinic, submitted the application for the clinic to join NCAFCC, and the Clinic received the grant by becoming an official member.
The grant, however, is only one of the membership benefits the clinic receives.
“The NCAFCC provides the Clinic with support in many forms, not the least being financial,” said Andrew Astin, 2016 student co-director of the clinic. “Another benefit that is particularly useful is the mentorship provided by Mark Scheerer and others from the Association. Mark and the rest of the staff help us, students who are very young in our administrative and medical careers, to understand how we can utilize the resources we have as well as inform us about other resources of which we might not otherwise be aware.”
Members of the NCAFCC leadership are available for individualized assistance and support when needed. Additionally, the student executive board will be invited to conferences and regional meetings that provide the students opportunities to network with other free clinics in the area.
The clinic is also affiliated with the National Society of Student-Run Free Clinics. Third year medical student Daniel Moses, one of the inaugural class clinic founders, serves as the conference chair and second year medical student Paul Pikman serves as communications chair while several other CUSOM free clinic leaders who serve on NSSRFC sub-committees.