By Vanessa Rorai
As part of my learning plan for my Field Placement, I interviewed a local agency that works to improve human rights and social and economic justice.
I interviewed the HUDA Clinic, which is a free clinic in Detroit. This clinic, which opened in 2004, provides medical services at no cost to anyone who is uninsured (The HUDA Clinic, n.d.).
Current services offered at the clinic are internal medicine, ophthalmology, dentistry, and mental health, and can refer patients to other specialties not offered at the clinic (The HUDA Clinic, n.d.).
The clinic also has a pharmacy with a pharmacist on staff.
In the interview I inquired about the process patients must go through to obtain medication.
The pharmacy has limited types of medication, which are mostly for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and does not supply any type of narcotics (HUDA, 2014).
There is absolutely no fee for any prescription medication (HUDA, 2014).
The clinic does not offer any educational programs on taking medication safely, but does offer a diabetic education class on every fourth Saturday of the month.
When asked about the effects of the Affordable Care Act, the clinic stated that there are still many people uninsured.
Most uninsured patients that fall between the cracks of the ACA are ineligible for different reasons, immigrants, cannot afford the co-pays or deductibles, or do not want to sign up (HUDA, 2014).
Although the clinic is still helping many uninsured patients, it will be interesting to observe any changes within the clinic as time continues with the Affordable Care Act in action and the recent changes made by President Obama with immigration laws.
References
HUDA. (2014, November 11). Reception Desk. (V. Rorai, Interviewer) Detroit, MI,
United States of America.
The HUDA Clinic. (n.d.). HUDA. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from HUDA:
www.hudaclinic.org
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