Students at the UCSD School of Medicine had wanted to start a free clinic for many years however, the models initially proposed did not gain the support of UCSD administration. One day, a UCSD pre-med student who had served at the Suitcase Clinic in Berkeley, California approached Dr. Ellen Beck, M.D, Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at UCSD. Together, they called a meeting of interested students and formed a planning committee. The key learning for the team was that an exclusive building was not needed to house the clinic; the project needed an established community partner that could provide them with support and facilities. The team identified a well established program already serving the homeless at the Pacific Beach United Methodist Church. Mary Mahy, a formerly homeless woman, had created the Harvest for the Hungry program and was receptive to the idea of a free medical clinic. With her support and assistance, the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project gained access to several rooms in the church that they could use during the evenings. Thus, the first UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic site was opened at the Pacific Beach United Methodist Church on in January 1997. On that first night, 10 patients came seeking aid and over the next few months the clinic became very busy. A minister from the First Lutheran Church in Downtown San Diego, who was passionate about social justice and serving the homeless, heard about the free clinic that had started in Pacific Beach. He approached Dr. Beck and asked if a second site could be started at his church. This coincided with rising student interest for the project and with a sufficient number of medical student volunteers, a second site was opened in October 1997. The medical students then became interested in reaching out to underserved minority populations. Initially, Dr. Beck approached an inner city church. Though the congregation was primarily middle-class, the pastor of the church referred Dr. Beck to his wife, Dr. Louilyn Hargett, who was the leader at Baker Elementary School. Dr. Hargett along with the school's principal, Krisi Dean, welcomed the creation of a clinic and became partners with the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project. During 1998, the San Diego Unified School District approved the request to use school buildings for a medical clinic. It was the school board's hope that the clinic would help to affirm the idea that school was at the center of the community. On October 13, 1998, the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project's third site was opened at Baker Elementary. Through the first 10 years of operations, the clinics provided no-cost healthcare to 7,500 people. At any given time, the clinics have approximately 2,500 active patients. The clinic funding comes from UCSD, grants, foundations, and donors.
Nationwide impact
The UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project created a national faculty development program in 1999 called, "Addressing the Health Needs of the Underserved" with grant funding. Over 107 faculty from 30 states have visited UCSD for three week periods to learn the mechanics of creating similar student-run free clinic programs in their communities. The UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project now offers an Advanced Skills Program, in which previous participants return for a week and continue to learn from each other and their programs. Through "Addressing the Health Needs of the Underserved," and individual consultations, the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project Project has been emulated around the country In addition, attendees have used information from the program to create 29 new resident curricula in community medicine, 18 new medical student curricula, successful grant proposals that address training in underserved communities, and new programs addressing the needs of migrant workers, street homeless, and other underserved groups.
