Meet The Community Care Clinics

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Community Care Clinics. Them and their team share their story with us below:

The Community Care Clinics was started by Dr. Richard Paat, an internal medicine specialist with decades of history volunteering on medical mission trips, and students from the University of Toledo in 2010. Upon returning from a medical mission trip to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, Dr. Paat and the students wanted to do something to serve the community right at home- thus, the CCC was born. We began with just one clinic, the Labre traveling clinic, that serves patients right in their neighborhoods. This is a clinic that is still in operation today, and every Monday we go to downtown Toledo and host a pop-up clinic in two different sites. Nine years ago, we began operating our Main clinic out of Cedarcreek Church South in Toledo on Thursday nights. We also have two satellite clinics that serve a predominately Black & African-American community at Tabernacle Church and a Hispanic & Latino community at Saints Peter & Paul Church. In the future, we hope to better serve additional underserved populations and the LGBTQIA+ community in Toledo. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As we are an entirely student-run clinic providing free healthcare, there have been many struggles! The students who run the Community Care Clinics (CCC) are all graduate school students from the University of Toledo’s colleges of medicine, pharmacy, nursing etc. This means we all have demanding school work throughout the week that we must balance in addition to their duties at the clinic. Furthermore, we have an operating budget of around $50,000 which grows annually. Every year, the board has to fundraise this amount. It takes a huge amount of work to write dozens of grant applications and organize fundraising events to meet this budget. In addition, we hold 14 clinics a month and these all need to be staffed by student and licensed healthcare provider volunteers. It can sometimes be a challenge to staff these clinics- but we always pull through! 

While the work is challenging, it is endlessly rewarding. Being a volunteer at the CCC means you are always learning- not just about medicine, but about our healthcare system, and the patients we serve. We are able to get to know the members of our community, particularly those that are underserved. We get the privilege of learning their stories and every year we find new ways to expand the clinic to serve them more holistically. The auxiliary list of services we offer grows each year, but some of the things we can provide, in addition to the free healthcare, is a full pharmacy, food pantry, vision screening, HIV/AIDS testing, Narcan training, financial counseling, and more. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The Community Care Clinics is a student-run free healthcare clinic that provides a myriad of services to the Toledo community. We are a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering free, quality healthcare with dignity to underserved populations. We pride ourselves in being flexible, and while we specialize mainly in primary care, we are always able to get the care that our patients need. We do not ask for insurance, documentation status, income statements, or anything like that- we serve all who come through our doors. We are constantly trying to find ways to ensure we are a welcoming environment to all. 

We are the only student-run healthcare clinic in the country that has remained opened during the entirety of the pandemic. We provided 7,007 COVID-19 vaccines, particularly working with underserved populations who may not have gotten the care otherwise. We vaccinated twice the number of African American patients, and ten times the number of Hispanic patients, as the state of Ohio. 

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
One thing we love is the response from the community to support one another. In the greater Toledo area, there are several free clinics, hospitals, nonprofits, faith groups, and other organizations that provide healthcare to under-resourced, underinsured, and uninsured communities. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, several new partnerships have emerged in an inspiring step forward in the coordinated effort to improve the livability and public health of our city. In addition to this, we love the abundance of support for the LGBTQ+ community which is shown annually at the Toledo Pride Parade! 

However, many of the social determinants of health, particularly transportation, still remain in need of revitalization in Toledo. Since transportation issues affect multiple aspects of health and society, while disproportionately influencing people of lower income, people with disabilities, and older adults, CCC is addressing this vital issue through the AARP Community Challenge. This quick-action grant-funded project aims to build communities that are more livable for people of all ages. 

According to the American Hospital Association, 3.6 million people in the United States do not obtain medical care due to transportation issues each year. These challenges include lack of vehicle access, inadequate infrastructure, long distances and lengthy times to reach medical services, transportation costs, and adverse policies that affect travel – all of which impact our patients in Toledo that receive care at the CCC. As a clinic that primarily serves underinsured and uninsured patients, removing barriers to care and providing accessible, equitable services are guiding principles of our core mission, as transportation issues may result in missed or delayed healthcare appointments, increased health expenditures and poorer health outcomes. By expanding the public transit station nearest our clinic, improving bicycle infrastructure, and providing alternative transportation for those outside of public transit lines, we hope that the project will transform the accessibility to our clinics and improve the health of our communities. 

Contact Info:

• Website: utcommunitycare.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ccc_communitycareclinics/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Utoledo.CCC/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/utoledo_ccc

Image Credits
Sarah Bicknell