Program Overview: Opportunities to Serve
Birmingham Clinic
Clinics for Underserved Populations
The Program for Health Care to Underserved Populations (PHCUP) was established in 1994 and has served as a safety net for vulnerable members of the Pittsburgh community who are in need of health care but lack economic resources and appropriate access. The mission of the program is to coordinate and facilitate the provision of free health care to identified population groups typically excluded from traditional primary health care. The program has been a pioneer in the genesis of unique service-learning opportunities for medical students, pharmacy students, and medical residents from the University of Pittsburgh. The PHCUP provides a unique opportunity
for residents to work with community and government agencies whose goal is to meet the social and medical needs of the underserved.
It allows the residents to gain experience with the direct care and complex needs of medically disenfranchised
individuals in the urban communities of Pittsburgh. Staff physicians and pharmacists provide nearly 1,800 hours of volunteer service and over 1,500 hours of teaching
and precepting time annually.
The PHCUP serves homeless, uninsured, and disenfranchised Pittsburghers through four clinics that provide approximately 3,000 primary care visits and
fill about 4,500 on-site prescriptions free of charge
per year. Each clinic is partnered with a community social service agency,
and each has an exclusively volunteer team of physicians, pharmacists, and University of Pittsburgh residents and medical students
who provide holistic acute and chronic care with a multidisciplinary approach. Interns participate in the program as part of their
ambulatory block rotation, and residents can continue on a voluntary basis. For instance, at the
program's Birmingham Free Clinic, which serves clients from the South Side Salvation Army residential programs
and from the general public, residents voluntarily staff the Saturday clinic sessions.
Basic primary care services provided include:
- Physical examinations
- Routine immunizations
- HIV testing and care
- Tuberculosis screening
- Pregnancy testing
- Smoking cessation programs
- Diagnosis and management of chronic medical conditions (e.g., hypertension, asthma,
and diabetes)
Four clinics currently provide primary care free of charge, with no third-party billing. They are as follows:
- The Birmingham
Free Clinic–Salvation Army Homeless Drop-In
Center serves uninsured and
indigent clients from the South Side Salvation Army
programs and the general public. It
is also the only free clinic in
southwestern Pennsylvania to serve the
growing number of uninsured Latino adults and children in our region. The Saturday clinic
session is staffed with medical student interpreters who speak Spanish.
Location: 54 South 9th Street,
Pittsburgh, PA
Monday 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Wednesday 1:00 PM
to 4:00 PM
Friday 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM
to 1:00 PM
- The
HUB Outreach Center Clinic
serves older homeless individuals
and serves transient
adolescents who are 17-21 years old.
Location: 26th and Smallman Street (in the Strip District),
Pittsburgh, PA
Tuesday 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM
-
The Salvation Army Harbor Light
(SA-HL) Rehabilitation Program
serves residents of the SA-HL New Hope Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program on the North Side.
Location: 865 West North Avenue,
Pittsburgh, PA
Monday 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
|
