A long-running student-led free clinic at the University of South Alabama is broadening who it serves, adding new monthly services for women at a Mobile emergency shelter after years of focusing solely on men.
For the past seven years, students with University of South Alabama Health have volunteered weekly at the Salvation Army, providing free medical services to men at no cost. Recently, the group decided the need in the community extended further and began offering the same kind of care to women once a month on Fridays at McKemie Place, an emergency overnight shelter serving battered women in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
“But we felt that there was a bigger need in the community, especially since we’ve been serving the gentleman long enough,” said Chandler Hinson, president of the student-run clinic.
Hinson said the same core group of volunteers who serve at the Salvation Army each week now also travels to McKemie Place to meet whatever medical needs the women there may have. “Basically the same group of volunteers that go to the Salvation Army – we also now go over to the women’s clinic and we provide whatever they need. So they can come in with whatever issue that they had and we’ll make sure to take care of them,” Hinson said.
Many of the women who seek shelter at McKemie Place arrive after experiencing sexual abuse or sexual violence, giving the volunteer clinic’s work there a distinct character compared with its services for men. Hinson said working with this population has been meaningful, describing moments such as performing hearing exams for residents who had never had one before.
“Being able to test for hearing a lot of these, you know, individuals they have never had hearing exam before and that’s something that’s unique,” Hinson said.
Hinson said he and his fellow volunteers plan to continue both commitments moving forward, serving men every Friday at the Salvation Army while adding the monthly Friday visits to McKemie Place for women. University of South Alabama students interested in joining the effort must complete training before they can begin volunteering, and can reach out to the clinic by email to sign up.