Health Talk

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of Health Talk posts highlighting University of Minnesota health professional students’ stories about their experiences at the student-run Phillips Neighborhood Clinic. The posts mark the tenth anniversary of the clinic, which you can read more about here.

The Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) is a wonderful place for students to gain relevant healthcare experience.

The clinic’s focus on interprofessional collaboration provides a unique opportunity for healthcare students like me to learn and appreciate other professions within the healthcare system. This innovative approach to patient care means that a patient has all members of the clinic working together to determine the best plan of care for them. I cannot think of any other place where patients get that kind of treatment.

Each night after I get done volunteering, I am filled with a sense of satisfaction because I feel I have really helped someone who may never have gotten help otherwise.

Volunteering at the PNC as a student has been more than just rewarding — it has been an opportunity to become a leader and decision maker in a healthcare setting that I might not have gotten until much later on in my career.

I feel that the PNC has encouraged and inspired me to make a difference in the healthcare system. I believe that the PNC truly represents the belief that healthcare is more than a privilege: it’s a right.