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Living on the streets

University initiatives improve health care for Minnesota's homeless — challenging assumptions along the way

BY Richard Broderick
PHOTOS BY SCOTT STREBLE

University initiatives improve health care for Minnesota's homeless — challenging assumptions along the way.

It's a Monday evening, and the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic is busy as usual.

The clinic, which opened its doors in 2003, is housed in the basement of Oliver Presbyterian Church, located in one of Minneapolis's poorest neighborhoods. One night a week it offers health care at reduced or no charge to uninsured patients, a significant number of them homeless.

But there's no feeling of deprivation here. A pair of Native American toddlers races down the brightly lit halls calling and laughing. Meanwhile, in a room that during the day serves as a preschool nursery, a lively group of University of Minnesota students chat as they prepare to see patients.

The students are here because the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) isn't just a clinic — it's an innovative educational facility staffed by social-work interns and first- and second-year students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physical therapy. Under the guidance of faculty preceptors, the students not only manage patient care — they also manage the clinic itself. It's an invaluable hands-on experience in the day-to-day realities of clinical care.

"As a medical student, I have courses in other disciplines, like nursing and physical therapy, but this is a robust opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary setting very early in my career," says Kristen Kleven, a second-year student who volunteers at the clinic and cochairs PNC's administrative board.

"PNC is unique in that it's student run, so we look at operations, patient flow, and what can be done to improve care," Kleven says. "Working here, we can already see how teamwork affects patient care and how communication and coordination between disciplines affect outcomes."

The Phillips Neighborhood Clinic is just one public face of numerous University research and clinical initiatives aimed at helping underserved populations, including the state's growing number of homeless people, which today is estimated at about 20,000 individuals, up from 15,000 in the mid-'90s.

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