About

Who does the clinic serve?

The Student Outreach Clinic is for any community member who is uninsured or underinsured and could not otherwise afford medical attention or preventative health care. There are five clinic categories offered: a comprehensive/general clinic, a pediatric clinic, a women's clinic, a geriatric clinic and a dermatology clinic. These clinics provide screenings, labs, x-rays and other services needed to better improve health care in Nevada. No personal information is collected from the patient at the clinic unless referral or follow-up information is necessary, and most services offered are free to the patient. We also have Spanish interpreters available at all our clinics.

What do we do?

The Student Outreach Clinic was founded by students in 1996 and continues to be operated by medical students of The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, in cooperation with the Family Medicine Center (FMC), under the guidance of licensed physicians. The purpose of the clinic is to provide free health care to those without medical insurance, allowing them to have access to medical care that they otherwise may not receive. The clinic is made possible by faculty, community physicians and students who donate their time and talent to oversee the clinic. Services include general and acute medical care, gynecological exams, immunizations and discounted laboratory services.

Currently there are five clinics (Comprehensive/General, Pediatric, Women's, Geriatric and Dermatology) run by the Student Outreach Clinic, each organized by a different group of student-managers. Although each clinic aims to treat a subset of the medically uninsured population, the mission of the clinic as a whole is:

To provide significant and quality health services to the uninsured population of Northern Nevada.
To help medical students gain additional clinical experience and education so that they may continue to help others.
To encourage cultural competence among medical students and facilitate interaction with a patient population that may not otherwise be met during training.
To provide an opportunity for medical students to work in cooperation with other health care professionals early in training.

The benefit to students is that they receive hands-on experience in treating patients from the very first day of medical school. They also get to learn the business-side of managing a health clinic, the issues around health insurance, health access and other valuable information. Medical students work with a high degree of independence and responsibility at the clinic while an emphasis is placed on health screening and assessment, patient education, immediate health services and referral to community health resources. The clinic combines the educational and health care missions of the medical school by teaching students the importance of providing compassionate and competent care to the uninsured Northern Nevada community.

How are we funded?

The Student Outreach Clinic is funded through generous grants from the following organizations:

Nell J. Redfield Foundation
Patricia D. Cafferata, Esq. in memory of H. Treat Cafferata, M.D.
John and Rosemarie Dooley Family Foundation
Abowd and Rose Financial Group

Financial contributions can also be made at the time of your visit or via an online donation.