Medical clinic seeks student volunteers

Casa De Salud is looking for volunteers who want to gain hands-on experience in the medical field.

The medical clinic in Albuquerque’s South Valley area serves more than 11,000 patients each year, focusing on those without insurance in low-income areas. The clinic now has 20 student volunteers, but is looking for more, said spokesman Zane Maroney.

“You’re actually learning medicine,” he said. “Doctors bring you in to watch procedures and explain them step-by-step.”
Scholarships and work-study are also available to many volunteers, Maroney said, and volunteers should work six hours per week for a year and speak Spanish proficiently.

Student Erika Rios has volunteered at the clinic for three years and plans to apply to medical school. She said that physicians at Casa De Salud have taught her invaluable skills.

“I’ve learned so much — doing stitches, drawing blood, EKGs — all these medical aspects that you don’t get at any regular volunteer site,” she said.

The clinic has been open since 2004 and focuses on holistic health. Casa De Salud has a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and massage therapist, in addition to four doctors, two physician assistants and a nurse.

Patients are often given herbs from a garden in the front yard for aromatherapy and referred to acupuncture treatments for chronic pain, anxiety and many other ailments, Maroney said.

Anjali Taneja, family practice doctor, said she came to work at Casa De Salud after finishing medical school. She said clinics like Casa De Salud are rare.

“The volunteers get to see how a practice can happen in a framework where folks who are low income, mono-lingual Spanish speakers or have substance abuse issues are treated with respect and dignity,” she said. “I’d like to see more clinics like this around the country.”
She said students are trained at the clinic to recognize signs that a patient needs help right away, since many patients come to Casa De Salud as an alternative to the long lines at the UNM Hospital emergency room.

Taneja said Casa De Salud offers a different model of health care because insurance companies aren’t involved.
“We don’t have to deal with insurance companies or other third parties that really make practice life frustrating sometimes,” she said. “New Mexico has one of the worst statistics for health access.”

Students learn about health problems specific to New Mexico, Maroney said, including drug addiction. He said the average patient costs $23 to treat, and health care systems around the U.S. could use Casa De Salud as model to improve patient care.
“We have a program once a week that helps people get off opiates,” he said. “Rehabilitation should be a drawn-out healing process.”