St Vincents House

Your donation will help pay for operation of the student-run free clinic, which depends on ongoing fundraising efforts. We raise money to help with various direct costs including purchase of medications stocked at clinic, immunizations for clinic, medical waste disposal, assistance with payment for medical needs for our patients on a case-by-case basis, food and drink for volunteers and other needs that arise in clinic operation. The vast majority of all funding, including your donation will go directly to providing patient care.

St. Vincent’s Student-run Free Clinic was opened in 1969 and has been in continuous operation since. It began as the idea of two UTMB medical students desiring to give something back to the community. It has grown into a tradition at UTMB which each new class gladly dedicates itself.

The clinic was established to provide high quality, outpatient medical care completely free of charge to those without access to health care in Galveston county and surrounding communities while offering a unique educational environment where students can learn about community medicine with an under-served population. The clinic serves as a safety net for the indigent of Galveston County making quality health care available to members of the community who otherwise have no access to care.

The clinic is staffed entirely through the generosity of volunteers, including students from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) medical, nursing and allied health schools, under the supervision of UTMB faculty physician volunteers. St. Vincent’s Student-run Free Clinic’s has grown and evolved since beginning over 40 years ago. The clinic, open on Tuesday, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons, provides primary care and a number of specialty services including dermatology, gynecology, neurology, and psychiatry. It not only provides completely free clinical care but also free laboratory and pathology services and a number of free prescription medications. If we cannot provide a medication free, we work to assist the patient in obtaining the medication free through company-sponsored pharmaceutical assistance programs. The clinic's partnerships with other organizations ensure that patients receive comprehensive care including linking patients with needed social-services and providing assistance with managing their chronic diseases.

Over the past 12 months, St. Vincent's Student-run Free Clinic served approximately 2000 unique patients, fulfilling over 3000 appointments. The average age of patients served was 43 years old. While the clinic focus is on the Island of Galveston, the clinic has served a wide geographic area encompassing over 57 zip codes. Still, the majority, approximately 43% of the clinic’s patients share the same zip code as the clinic site.

St. Vincent's Student-run Free Clinic is filled with the energy, determination and the spirit of numerous student and faculty volunteers. The clinic is cost savvy and effective. It keeps its costs down via the use of volunteers, the utilization of generic medication programs, and by taking advantage of existing government grants such as the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening grants through the state. The clinic strives to provide comprehensive care by forming partnerships with other community resources and by placing emphasis on chronic disease management. St. Vincent’s Student-run Free Clinic’s services are targeted to maximize cost savings and also to ensure a more healthy community by providing chronic disease management and preventative services. The clinic prevents costly complications from cancer and chronic diseases through screening and proactive identification of patients in need of medical intervention, which reduces fiscal and human resource strains on the healthcare system. Additionally, through the partnership with Frontera de Salud, community outreach efforts are employed to identify an at-risk population not participating in the healthcare system. St. Vincent’s Student-run Free Clinic’s services not only lead to direct healthcare savings, but the patients live healthier and more productive lives resulting in many tangible and intangible benefits to society. The clinic truly touches the lives of community members who would otherwise fall through the healthcare cracks.