Jaydoc Free Clinic

The Jaydoc 5K has come and gone. Thanks to everyone who participated! The results are in PDF format at the link below:

2008 Jaydoc 5k Results

The 5th annual JayDoc 5K will be held on Saturday May 3^rd at 8am. To register online, click here .

Packet pickup starts at 6:30 AM outside the KUMC Bookstore (map). Event is held rain or shine. All proceeds benefit the Jaydoc Free Clinic.

Give now and help the KU Jaydoc Free clinic provide health care to Kansas City’s underserved population, as well as provide opportunities for KU medical students to broaden and enrich their medical education.

Donate to the Jaydoc Free Clinic Fund

Jaydoc is a part of the KU Endowment and is a 501(c)(3) organization.

The JayDoc Free Clinic is seeking physician volunteers to help staff the clinic on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6-9:30pm. All KUMC physicians and residents as well as community physicians are eligible to volunteer. Childcare is always available. Please e-mail jaydocfreeclinic@kumc.edu if you are interested in volunteering and a clinic representative will contact you.

By: Liz Rinehart and Anne Blair

The executive board of the JayDoc Free Clinic is proud to announce its new status as an official member of the Safety Net Clinic Coalition of Wyandotte County. The objective of the Safety Net Clinics is “to promote access to quality, culturally sensitive, comprehensive health care services for the medically underserved in Wyandotte County.” This coalition of 8 reduced-fee clinics exists to serve residents who lack insurance or are unable to afford other health services. JayDoc has always included these goals in its mission, and student physicians are already accustomed to referring their patients to other Safety Net clinics. However, becoming a Safety Net Clinic has allowed JayDoc to gain greater respect and visibility within the community, to network with other clinics, and to benefit from coalition-wide funding.

Because the JayDoc executive board serves a one-year term, teamwork between the outgoing and incoming representatives was crucial in achieving this major milestone for the clinic. David Harmon and Adam Obley, members of the 2006-2007 executive board, initiated the application process and this year’s board continued to work toward this goal. Their efforts were successful; in May the JayDoc Free Clinic was unanimously voted into the Safety Net Clinic Coalition by members of the governing board. To be considered by the coalition, JayDoc representatives demonstrated that the not-for-profit clinic provides quality health care, caters to a population that would otherwise be unable to receive care, and is financially sustainable. Parker Tuley, JayDoc Director of Social Services, noted that the clinic is unique because it is the only completely free clinic in the coalition. All other clinics operate on a sliding fee scale, so there is a nominal charge based on each patient’s income. “They were impressed that we could show them there was not a single charge for patients who came through our clinic to see medical students as well as a physician. They also respected that we are a teaching facility that provides quality medical care,” Tuley commented.

The JayDoc executive board and volunteers have already noticed changes as a result of the clinic’s new status. Tuley noted, “JayDoc is not a chronic care system. We think of ourselves as a filter, responsible for finding patients a medical home which could be one of the other Safety Net Clinics.” Student physicians have been encouraged to refer patients to other clinics and those clinics have begun to refer patients with daytime jobs to JayDoc’s evening clinic. Tuley predicted that greater recognition by the medical community will be reflected in increased patient load for the clinic as a whole as well as on the recently instituted specialty nights. The hope is that area doctors will rise to meet this challenge by volunteering at the clinic. The grants that JayDoc receives from the Safety Net Clinic Coalition and the opportunities for networking with other clinics will help JayDoc expand and continue to improve its services to underserved patients in Wyandotte County.

Volunteering at Jaydoc is easy! You can schedule a great evening at Jaydoc by using the volunteer website at http://volunteer.jaydocfreeclinic.org. To volunteer, you must first register with the site. Go there now to register for an account.

At the beginning of each month, we open the schedule for people to sign themselves up. Spots fill up pretty quickly, so be sure to sign up early!

The 4th annual JayDoc 5K will be held on April 14^th at 8am. Check out this article for all the deails about registration and race day.

Read the rest of this entry »

The JayDoc Fun Run is an an annual 5K run benefiting the clinic. You can register online today.

The event will be held on Saturday, April 14, at 8:00 am.

We have locked down a headliner and a venue for the JayRock Benefit Concert. Mark your calendars for Friday, February 2, 2007 and check out the details.

Check out the article here.