Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic (CEHC) is a free clinic providing primary care to a predominantly Spanish-speaking, uninsured patient population in Rhode Island with limited access to gynecologic care. In 2015, medical students at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University started the Women's Clinic of Clinica Esperanza (WCCE), a "clinic within the clinic," recruiting physician preceptors and obtaining funding to support WCCE operations. For complex issues, clinic services were supplemented by a subspecialty referral system at a local hospital. Interim results over a two-year period ending in May 2017 are reported here. Medical students organized 48 women's clinics and provided 83 Pap smears, 138 breast exams, 42 mammogram referrals, 35 STI tests, and 19 vaginitis screens, among other activities. As the example of WCCE shows, student-run clinics can utilize medical students' relationships with providers and unique funding sources to expand access to specialty care for uninsured patients.
Keywords: free clinics; gynecology; health disparities; primary care.