{"id":69331,"date":"2018-03-18T15:42:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=69331"},"modified":"2018-03-18T15:44:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:44:19","slug":"free-health-clinic-for-chicagos-underserved-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/free-health-clinic-for-chicagos-underserved-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Free health clinic for Chicago’s underserved communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Serena Yeh <\/strong>
\n Medill Reports <\/i><\/p>\n

At about noon on a recent Sunday, three elderly Chinese walked into the Indian American Medical Association Charitable Foundation, a free health clinic that operates on the weekends.<\/p>\n

The couple was at the clinic, located in West Rogers Park, to obtain medicine refills. They brought along a relative to help translate Mandarin to English for them.<\/p>\n

Speaking through the translator, the elderly woman \u2013 Medill Reports agreed to the clinic\u2019s request not to identify the patients \u2013 said they have been visiting the clinic on West Peterson Avenue, from their Chinatown home every three months for the past two years.<\/p>\n

She said they visit only this clinic because the doctors are nice and the pharmacy provides free medicine which, as they are a low-income family, is an important help.<\/p>\n

The clinic, founded in 1994, provides free primary healthcare services for Chicago\u2019s underserved community, said its executive director, Chris Zala.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in an area of Chicago which is probably one of the most culturally diverse areas and, at the same time, it consists of members from the immigrant, refugee population. The immigrant population that are here, that are documented, do not have health insurance or are underinsured,\u201d said Zala, 52, who was pleasantly surprised to hear that patients also travelled from Chinatown.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The physicians who started the clinic wanted to \u201cgive back to the community,\u201d he said. \u201cPrimarily because they knew that the populations that lived here often are just getting started. They don\u2019t have the economic means to be able to afford insurance and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of providing free access, the clinic also operates in a \u201cculturally competent\u201d manner, said Zala.<\/p>\n

Clinic volunteers are mindful certain communities prefer seeing a female doctor, understand the dietary practices of various cultures and provide translation and interpretation services, he said.<\/p>\n

Zala said that most patients are from South Asia, followed by other Asian and Middle Eastern communities.<\/p>\n

The clinic has volunteer translators from Northwestern University and also operates as a training clinic for medical students, with some able to speak languages such as Korean and Mandarin.<\/p>\n

The clinic\u2019s receptionist, Dr. Gurdeep S. Nagi, understands Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, which helps him when signing in patients and understanding why they are coming to the clinic. He added that the most common ailments the clinic sees are hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the more vital things because when they understand it in terms of in English, they might not get the full effect or the connotation of like, \u2018Oh, this is really important.\u2019 When they hear it in their own native language, there\u2019s a comfort level that comes with it. They feel more relaxed, they are more attuned and they just understand it better,\u201d Nagi said.<\/p>\n

Other than language differences, the immigrant population also struggles with taking medicine and eating right, said Dr Rambha Radhakrishnan, medical director at the clinic, adding that most patients were immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may not be recent immigrants. They might be here some time, but they have never assimilated to the mainstream United States culture, so they have their own thinking, and it is our job to slowly, slowly change the thinking and the culture and say, \u2018You know what, you can do it differently. You do not have to eat this or you have to take your medicine this way,\u2019 things like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The clinic, which is run mainly by volunteers except for three staff members, ultimately hopes to provide services more days of the week, Zala said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t afford to choose when they get sick. We want to be able to provide services here, if we can, seven days a week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Indian American Medical Association Charitable Foundation free health clinic, which opens on weekends from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., is located on West Peterson Avenue. (Serena Yeh\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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They brought along a relative to help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":69332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,30,3987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2018"],"yoast_head":"\nFree health clinic for Chicago's underserved communities - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/free-health-clinic-for-chicagos-underserved-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free health clinic for Chicago's underserved communities - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Serena Yeh Medill Reports At about noon on a recent Sunday, three elderly Chinese walked into the Indian American Medical Association Charitable Foundation, a free health clinic that operates on the weekends. 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