MCH Student:

Dinah Dafeamekpor

Date of Defense:

June 4, 2010

Abstract:

The affordability of healthcare in the United States has been a major focus for debate in the past few decades. Large segments of the American population cannot access healthcare because of a fast changing economy and shifting family structure. This has caused overcrowding in public hospital Emergency Rooms and a consequent rise in free and subsidized clinics to combat this problem.

Methods and Results:  A literature review did not reveal any process evaluations that measure free clinic volunteer inputs and their effects on desired outcomes. This paper describes findings from a process evaluation of the community health worker role at a local free clinic in Minneapolis—the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic. A onetime online survey of student volunteers explores barriers to the process of disseminating information on subsidized insurance programs to patients.

Conclusions:  Recommendations based on these results are presented in this paper for use by the PNC administrative board, to make possible midcourse revisions and optimize program delivery