The C.A.R.E.S. Clinic

The CARES Clinic in Mount Pleasant is a nonprofit charity run by volunteer students from the Medical University of South Carolina. The clinic provides free general medical care to uninsured patients and is funded by donations and grants.     

“The acronym CARES stands for Community Aid, Relief, Education and Support, and that is exactly what we try to offer the Charleston community,” said Elizabeth Edwards, director of marketing for the clinic.

The clinic began almost a year ago when Dr. Wanda Gonsalves, an assistant professor of family medicine at MUSC, saw the need for a student-run clinic in the Charleston area. Before moving to Charleston, Gonsalves worked at the University of Kentucky, where she helped students organize a similar clinic.

“Students could volunteer at Crisis Ministries, but it’s not student-run, and they limit the number of students that could participate,” said Gonsalves. “At CARES, it is a much richer experience and more similar to what students would see in primary care after they finish med school.”

East Cooper Community Outreach donated to MUSC the use of a 1,000-square-foot building at 1145 Six Mile

Road near Laing Middle School. The space became an outreach center and regular faculty office during normal weekday hours. But for three hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the building operates as the CARES Clinic and fills with volunteer students and hopeful patients.

The clinic sees patients on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6:30 p.m. The only criteria for patients is that they are uninsured and do not have access to Medicare or Medicaid. While the clinic does not perform surgeries or other advanced procedures, it does provide primary care and can even write, fill and refill certain prescriptions.

Gonsalves believes that the clinic is not only a resource for the community and the uninsured, but is also a learning experience for students.

“The students work really hard and benefit just as much as the community does,” said Gonsalves. “It’s an amazing group of young adults we are working with, and they learn a tremendous amount.” First- and second-year students can volunteer on their own or sign up for a family medicine elective called Caring for the Community, which requires them to spend five nights a semester at the CARES Clinic. Students get both administrative and patient-care experience.

Third- and fourth-year students are encouraged to volunteer as well. Older students get the benefit of cementing concepts learned in advanced classes, as well as working in a leadership role with younger students.

“Students are very willing to go out there, so it’s not hard to keep it staffed,” said Justin Ellet, a fourth-year M.D. and Ph.D. student who has been volunteering at the clinic since it began last summer. “We do a lot of services out there that students may not be exposed to in any of their time at medical school.”

Although students work with the patients, they still are supervised by two faculty volunteers. A student interviews the patient by himself and then presents the diagnosis to a licensed physician. The physician and the student then interview the patient a second time. This allows faculty members to teach students about interviewing and educating patients, filling out prescriptions and much more.

“Not only are students getting the chance to help people, but it’s also a fantastic learning experience,” said Edwards. “They are seeing patients and determining therapeutic strategies while being supervised, so who could ask for a better situation?”

The CARES Clinic will mark its first year Aug. 30. Gonsalves said that the clinic has been a great success, and there is rarely a shortage of patients or volunteers.

“This is a great way for us to help our community,” said Ellet. “We really enjoy doing it, and we hope that the community keeps utilizing our services.”