Medical students at USF fill a void

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published October 28, 2007

The Bulls are making headlines and lifting school spirit as a winning football team. But another effort at the University of South Florida also deserves applause. Students at the USF School of Medicine have opened a free clinic to serve the uninsured in a poor neighborhood near the Tampa campus. They are giving something back to their community.

Four medical students - Samuel Crane, Waldo Guerrero, Omar Hammad and Shelby Kent - hatched the idea of opening a clinic a year ago. They worked nights and weekends, juggling families and already-hectic schedules, to sort through the medical, business and legal sides of becoming a health care provider. The goal was not only to help the uninsured - people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough for private coverage - but to treat patients in a comprehensive way. The workers act in teams. Each includes a care coordinator, a social worker, medical students and a physician who supervises. Second-year medical students Melanie Elliott and Jeannie Chern say their work at the clinic has deepened their commitment to making a difference through the practice of medicine.

The clinic, BRIDGE Healthcare, on N 22nd Street, just blocks northwest of the university, is open Tuesday evenings by appointment. It is one of several dozen such student-run, free clinics nationwide. At USF, the four friends and founders said, many medical professors offered help, though some opposed the idea, saying it took pressure off the government to fix the health care system.

Fortunately, these students are not waiting on Washington politicians to act. They are helping some of the most vulnerable in their community manage their diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. The students and professionals who made this a reality - and the university, the county Health Department and private sponsors, such as Quest Diagnostics, which is processing patients' lab tests for free - are filling a void and doing it with compassion and respect. Donors wishing to help should go to www.bridgehealthcareclinic.org.

[Last modified October 27, 2007, 20:19:46]