CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the first time, Marshall Medical Outreach is taking its services into West Virginia’s Capital City.
Dr. Charles “Chuck” Clements, a family and community health professor at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, is the faculty adviser for the student-created and student-run outreach initiative that’s been up and running since 2011.
On Saturday, a special clinic will be set up on Charleston’s West Side starting at 10 a.m. at Grace Bible Church, 600 Kanawha Boulevard West.
It’s a free clinic that’s open to the public.
No health insurance is required.
Set to staff the clinic offering basic assessments and treatment were dozens of medical and pharmacy students working under a team of volunteer physicians, pharmacists and other medical personnel.
“We can screen people and find out if they have any medical problems like hypertension or diabetes which are, sort of, the silent killers and, if they have either of those, we’ve made arrangements to send them for some further evaluation and care,” Clements said.
Marshall Medical Outreach began as an idea from three medical students who identified a group of people in need of care.
“So we set it up and it’s expanded dramatically over the years,” he said.
Marshall Medical Outreach was in Rainelle for several days immediately after the June 2016 Flood.
All other special clinics have been held in Huntington.
“The school is just trying to get people connected with health care and try reduce the disparities in health care,” Clements said. “We’re doing it here (in Huntington). We’d like to try to see if we can at least make a dent in it in Charleston.”