A free health care clinic run by University of Michigan medical students and faculty has reopened in a brand-new location in downtown Pinckney, months after a devastating fire ripped through the location it had shared with Faith Medical Clinic, a long-established safety net clinic. The ceremonial ribbon cutting of the new location will be this Saturday, Dec. 14 at 4 p.m. Fueled by a $30,000 grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, and an outpouring of more than $30,000 from the community, the U-M Medical School’s Student Run Free Clinic (SRFC) has begun serving uninsured adult patients every Saturday afternoon. Students work under the supervision of volunteer physician advisors from the U-M Medical School faculty from a newly renovated location at 103 E. Main St. in the Livingston County community. The Faith Clinic team sees patients at the same location on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. Of the more than 500,000 uninsured residents in Michigan, nearly half live below the poverty line. Safety net clinics, such as the SRFC and Faith clinic, are crucial to residents without the coverage or money to pay for care desperately needed to stay healthy and manage chronic conditions. The clinic also provides U-M medical students the opportunity to engage in patient practice early in their education. The SRFC has also partnered with U-M School of Public Health students, who are conducting a needs assessment, and SRFC leaders are working with administrators at the U-M School of Dentistry and School of Nursing to find ways to collaborate in the future. Other U-M students will also participate in the clinic, helping patients understand the new insurance options available to them under the Affordable Care Act and Michigan’s Medicaid expansion. The reopening of the SRFC has been featured on MLive, The Associated Press, The Republic, The Sacramento Bee, WTVG-TV, WLNS-TV, WLAJ-TV, and U-M’s Health System Headlines. For more information, visit the U-M SRFC website.
