Newswise — The GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences student-run Health, Education, Active Living (HEALing) Clinic is expanding its services and will be opening an additional site to see patients in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C. The new, expanded site, which will be located at the Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc., will expand GW’s HEALing Clinic’s primary care services, to serve many more medically underserved patients per week including the growing number of patients in the District receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS.
The HEALing Clinic currently partners with Bread for the City, a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive services, including food, clothing, medical care, legal and social services to vulnerable residents in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The clinic operates every Tuesday evening from 4:30 to 8 p.m., offering after-hours primary care to patients who cannot schedule appointments during the day to see a medical professional. The new clinic will run during the same hours on Tuesday evenings, beginning Jan. 12, 2010.
“This expansion will allow more medically underserved people in the District, many of whom cannot take the time during the day to get treated, to receive the primary care they need,” said Marissa Watts, co-director of the HEALing Clinic and second year medical student at GW. “This clinic serves as a safety net for many patients, including a large number of those grappling with HIV and AIDS.”
Both locations of the HEALing Clinic are staffed by at least 12-14 students each night, with a supervising primary care faculty member on site to oversee patient care. Additionally, a lab technician will be on-site to oversee any lab services offered at the Anacostia location.
A unique opportunity for the students at the new location is the chance to provide continuity of care for patients with chronic illness by scheduling regular follow-up appointments with the same students to foster strong relationships and positively impact health outcomes. Additionally, the presence of public health, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant students provides students with unique opportunities to practice team based primary care.
“As medical students, we are looking forward to the experience of working with the patient on an ongoing basis, with the hope we will decrease the number of D.C. residents who lack proper health care for their chronic conditions,” said Rahul Vanjani, co-director of the HEALing Clinic and also a second year medical student at GW.
The first day of the expanded site at the Family and Medical Counseling Services is Jan. 12; The Bread for the City location will also continue its regularly scheduled hours on Jan. 12. If you’d like to speak with representatives from GW about the HEALing Clinic, we can schedule phone or in-person interviews.
About The George Washington University Medical CenterThe George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1824. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu.
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