Mission

Our Mission

"To partner with faculty, students, patients, and community members to provide quality, dignifying, and empowering primary care to the underserved populations in Cincinnati."

Our Vision

Interdisciplinary provision of longitudinal primary-care in a culturally appropriate context.

Clinic History

The Student-Run Free Clinic of Cincinnati (SRFC) provides free medical care for adults who do NOT have health insurance. Patients are seen by a team of medical students and a licensed physician.

Planning for SRFC began In 2016 when medical students at the University of Cincinnati made several key observations:

1. The Hispanic/Latino population in Cincinnati is rapidly growing.
   a. This makes it difficult for Hispanic/Latino individuals not living in/near downtown Cincinnati to access care.

2. Free Clinics/Federally Qualified Health Centers in Hamilton County, OH are concentrated near downtown Cincinnati (Fig. 1).

3. Hispanic/Latino individuals frequently report barriers to health care (Fig. 2).

Figure 1. Map of Hamilton County, color coded by percentage of population in geographical district identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Black dots: free clinics or federally qualified health centers. Green star: location of SRFC.

Figure 2. Barriers to Care for English vs. Spanish speakers. Spanish speakers more frequently report issues like long wait times, communication difficulties, struggles with paper work, and lack of translation services as barriers to medical care.

SRFC brings together medical students, pharmacy students, nursing students, undergraduate students, and faculty/resident physicians to care for uninsured adult patients in Cincinnati.

We are uniquely positioned in Springdale, OH (Fig. 1) and are partnered with the Healing Center of Cincinnati, a non-profit organization. Our partnership with the Healing Center is key to our mission. Around half of Healing Center patrons come from Springdale, Forest Park, Lincoln Heights, Mt. Healthy, and Hamilton. Nearly 100% of 6,000+ unique families that utilize the food pantry at HC are at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. To learn more about the Healing Center.

SRFC officially opened in the summer of 2019 after more than three years of planning. To learn more about the services SRFC offers.

News

1. UC News Story
2. Video of UC SRFC on CNN
3. WCPO story
4. Cincinnati Business Courier story