UCSD To Raise Funds for Free Medical and Legal Services

will host its annual gala fundraiser March 31 to raise money to provide free medical, dental, legal and other services to the city's working poor and homeless, university officials announced Thursday.

The UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project is run by 200 students from the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences under the supervision of 100 licensed professionals. The project has four sites throughout the region and more than 2,000 people use its services each year, university officials said.

"For more than 15 years, the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project has helped people of all ages and backgrounds access high-quality health care, regardless of their ability to pay," said Dr. Ellen Beck, clinical professor in the university's Department of Family and Preventative Medicine.

More than 35,000 clinic visits have taken place since the programs inception in 1997, including specialty care for cardiovascular, ophthalmologic and psychiatric needs. More than 85 percent of patients have chronic conditions in need of ongoing care, officials said.

The greatest challenge for the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project was that operational expenses had increased while previously available funding from federal and state sources had decreased, Beck said. She estimated the clinic provided the community the equivalent of $1.6 million in free medications and several million in donated services.

“Many of the families who come to us are in crisis or on the verge of homelessness. Some are simply struggling financially and need help with basic health needs,” Beck said. “We are here to serve all, but need the support of the community to do so.”

The annual fundraiser and awards ceremony is set for March 31, at the UC San Diego Price Center Ballroom on the La Jolla campus.

–City News Service