Hope Clinic is a non-profit organization and free clinic dedicated to serving the underinsured and uninsured population of Washtenaw County. These services include routine and emergency medical care, prescriptions, and dental care. Hope Clinic also offers its clients a food pantry with fresh produce and a free laundromat. Hope's mission to provide these services are faith-based but volunteering there is not. You can learn more about Hope Clinic by visiting their website.
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- About Volunteering at Hope Clinic
Hope Clinic's in-house pharmacy is where the COP's pharmacy students have been able to volunteer on Wednesday evenings, Thursday afternoons, and Saturday mornings. Typically student volunteers assist pharmacists in entering prescription data, dispensing medications, and counseling patients on their prescriptions. Students are often also tasked with looking up information about the cost and therapeutic equivalence of medications to assist Hope Clinic's clinicians in finding the best medication for each patient.
COVID19 has decreased the number of pharmacy students that can volunteer at Hope Clinic in this capacity. Only 1 student can volunteer at Hope Clinic's pharmacy each shift to maintain social distancing. There are other opportunities and ways that students can still serve at the clinic. Hope Clinic is currently working on an IT project to improve their dispensing system and procedures. Pharmacy Students will be able to assist on this project by inputting drug information into the new dispensing program. Shifts will generally be 2-3 hours
Days students can volunteer Number of volunteers Shift Description Mondays 1-4 pm 1-2 students IT project Wednesdays 2-4 pm 1-2 students IT project Thursdays 1-5 pm 1 student Pharmacy shift Fridays 9-4 pm (2-3 hour shift) 1-2 students IT project
- How to volunteer
Students interested in volunteering must undergo a training session to learn the clinic's dispensing process and other clinic procedures. Due to social distancing, training materials will be provided digitally to all new student volunteers. Students can be trained as volunteers throughout the year (including in the summer) and throughout their time at pharmacy school. Please contact one of the coordinators to set-up your training and to receive the required materials.
Each month an email is sent to all trained volunteers notifying them that they are able to sign up for shifts during the following month. Students interested in volunteering on a particular day must contact one of the student coordinators to sign up for that shift.
Having access to a car will currently be required to volunteer at Hope Clinic as it is located 15 minutes away from campus in Ypsilanti. Given the constraints imposed by social distancing and the limit on how many students can be on site, carpooling to Hope is not recommended. Once social distancing is relaxed and more students can be on site this requirement will be lifted since options like carpooling and public transportation should be more readily available.
