CINCINNATI, OH | by Kelly Rippin | October 23, 2019
Original article can be found at: https://www.wlwt.com
If you have health insurance, it’s easy to take access to doctors for granted.
But the reality is: Many groups of people go without health care for even the simplest medical conditions because they do not know where to turn.
A University of Cincinnati medical student is helping solve that problem.
In between classes, exams and coffee-fueled clinics, Caroline Hensley noticed a void that needed to be filled — health care for the uninsured.
Determined, she brought her vision to life with the opening of a free health clinic called The Healing Center.
Before starting medical school, Hensley worked at a federally qualified health center. While there, she noticed people coming from across the Cincinnati area for simple care.
She realized people needed more access.
“Once we really communicated our desire to just really understand where people are at and help, the response has been really overwhelming,” Hensley said.
But it wasn’t always that way. Launching a free clinic has been years in the making for Hensley and her colleagues, and they’ve faced a lot of challenges along the way.
Dr. Maria Espinola said she remembers needing such resources when she came to the United States at 20 years old.
“One of the most important issues about this clinic is it really serves anyone who doesn’t have insurance. And we have, unfortunately, a huge population of marginalized people who do not have access to health care,” said Espinola, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor.
Students at the clinic direct people to other resources available to them. There are translators on-site to help Spanish speakers.
Officials with the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy are working to help provide affordable medications.
“I think, for me personally, just seeing what need there is out there and seeing how starting with just one person having a voice and one person identifying a problem, that can grow into something so much bigger, has been so impactful for me,” said Hensley.
The medical students are the ones seeing the patients and providing basic medical care. We’re told a medical doctor is always on staff and overseeing the appointments.
The Healing Center is providing the space for the students to see patients at an office located right on a bus line in northern Hamilton County.
Right now, the clinic is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon, but it plans to expand its hours and services.
The Healing Center is located at Century Circle in Springdale. For more information, click here.
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