On behalf of JayDoc Free Clinic, I would like to sincerely thank you for helping us exceed our goal through your generous donation with our LaunchKU fundraiser. Your donation is deeply appreciated and helps contribute towards our mission of providing quality healthcare to the underserved and uninsured populations of Greater Kansas City and furthering the education of health professional students. These funds will be put towards providing quality care, completing laboratory tests and screens, and keeping the daily operations of our clinic running. We thank you greatly for your support and are immensely appreciative of everyone that makes our clinic possible. We are so proud to be part of such a supportive community. 

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to the Director of Fundraising, Lindsay McCausland (Lmccausland@kumc.edu).

Happy Holidays!

The JayDoc Board

As we close out our final 24 hours, we want to say THANK YOU! The money we have raised thus far will allow us to provide services for so many patients and we are so thankful for such a supportive community.

JayDoc has without a doubt, been the most influential and meaningful experience of my medical school career thus far. During my first year, I was drawn to the mission of providing free and quality healthcare to the underserved and uninsured KC community. This year, I have the honor to serve as the Director of Fundraising and learned the importance of the community's support. It has been to honor to work alongside a dedicated board and I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn and serve our patients. At JayDoc, we welcome patients with different stories and life experiences and give them an option for accessible and quality healthcare. Every person deserves to be heard and cared for and we make it our goal to support patients along this journey. JayDoc Free Clinic is a truly remarkable organization and I am so thankful to be a part of it.  

Amber is one of our Executive Directors at JayDoc and we are so proud to have her as a member of our team. Not only does she deeply care about the mission and goals of JayDoc, but she is a strong and approachable leader for students. JayDoc truly wouldn’t be what it is without dedicated students like Amber. 

My passion for JayDoc extends from the love I have for my own community. As a child, I always thought health to be a universal equalizer. In my mind everyone got sick. Yet, after witnessing the multitude of challenges my family experienced accessing medical care, I began to realize there are two healthcare systems in America, one for the "Haves" and another for the "Have Nots." Simply put, health status for far too many minority and economically disadvantaged persons serves as just another means of stratification.  Seeing this deeply broken system, I decided to go into medicine to be a part of the solution. Becoming involved in JayDoc allowed me to do just that.  At JayDoc our patients may have diverse backstories and presenting complaints, but their desire is the same: to be healthy. Something that should be so simple, and yet, is not for those who are uninsured. Fortunately, due to our unique position as an entry point into the healthcare system, JayDoc has a tangible role in leveling the playing field one physical, prenatal visit, diabetic care follow up, or PCP placement at a time. During my time as an Executive Director I have worked to implement a pediatric vaccine program and increase physician volunteer numbers at clinic to further support our patients' right to be healthy. It is an absolute privilege to be a part of a patient's journey to better health and I am humbled that I get to help lead a team of volunteers committed this goal. 

Loza has worked hard alongside other student volunteers to develop our newest specialty night, Transgender Night! This clinic night was put into action last spring and we are so proud of the success and outreach this specialty night has developed in such a short time period! The continual growth we see at JayDoc is because of students and physician that strive to serve the Kansas City area!

"During my undergraduate years, I worked with several mentees who experienced mental health issues and homelessness because their caretakers couldn’t accept their identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I always wanted to help in a more substantial way, but couldn’t offer more than encouraging words. Fast forward to my admission to KU School of Medicine, when I immediately hopped on the internet in search of a free clinic. There I found JayDoc and later heard about the amazing opportunity to work with transgender patients! As a director, I have had the chance to learn from people with incredible stories, and use any medical knowledge I had (with the supervision of a physician, of course) to provide the treatment they need. Because of JayDoc, patients who couldn’t otherwise afford treatment have received care. I feel lucky to be a part of such an awesome team. Thank you JayDoc for giving me the opportunity to give back to underserved communities!"

Today we have the pleasure to hear from one of our Radiology Specialty Night Directors! Below, Haley Botteron details the importance of this specialty night and demonstrates the integral part they play in improving patient care and ensuring they receive they care they need. 

"Radiology night at JayDoc offers great accessible healthcare opportunities to the community we serve. Our team of KU radiologists, sonographers, and X-ray technicians are able to provide diagnostic imaging right in clinic. We play a key part in diagnosis in cases ranging from broken bones to cancer concerns. Often patients come in worried about a lump or bump they found, and we are able to give patients peace of mind by getting an ultrasound clarifying that the bump is either a benign cyst, or if needed, we are able to help them with a referral to places like WyJo Care in order to get a CT or biopsy. When patients come into clinic with concerns, it is fulfilling to see that as a student that we are able to help provide them answers and help guide their follow up care."

Jack Ayres describes on of the most vital roles at JayDoc, our interpreting team. Because of students like Jack, we are able to serve a greater population of patients. Below, he perfectly describes the importance of interpreters as part of the JayDoc team. 

"I am fortunate to serve as one of the Spanish-English interpreters at JayDoc. Unfortunately, it is easy to see the impact that language barriers can play in health care delivery. As the research shows, an interpreter plays an important role not just in allowing a patient and provider to understand what the other is saying, but in making the patient feel comfortable in a complex and intimidating system. There is not a feeling quite like seeing the look of relief on our patient’s faces when they learn that there is somebody in the clinic who speaks the same language as they do. This serves as a constant reminder for me of the importance of developing rapport and communicating authentically with the patients we serve. Patients take a critical step towards improving their health every time they walk through the door of the clinic; the volunteers at JayDoc work tirelessly to make that a positive experience and develop what we hope will be a commitment to health."

We are SO excited to announce that JayDoc Board alumna, Dr. Heather Von Bevern and her husband, Ryan Von Bevern, have graciously offered a $1,000 match for all donations during the last week of the campaign! For every dollar we are able to raise the Von Beverns will match it up to $1000! This is such an incredible opportunity and we hope that you will help us reach our goal! The campaign ends November 9th. 

Aidan is Director of Lab & Supplies at JayDoc and works extremely hard to ensure we always have the supplies we need so we can continue serving patients. Aidan has taken on several new initiatives this year to help us maintain an organized system and obtain new lab supplies for our patients. Volunteers like Aidan are the reason JayDoc continues to grow. 

"I was drawn to JayDoc because I think it is important for physicians to have a strong understanding of the struggles that many patients face while trying to access healthcare. Interacting with patients who have very limited resources helps us reflect on the practical limitations of the, "best practices," that we learn in the classroom and find more realistic ways to improve our patient's outcomes. This is a skill that, I believe, will be invaluable in managing patients, no matter how wealthy they are, for the rest of our careers."

Soham Patel is the Director of Finances at JayDoc. He is an extremely dedicated volunteer ensuring that we always have the means to provide for our patients. Soham always puts other first and works tirelessly to improve clinic and serve patients.   

"JayDoc, as most people know it, is an acute care clinic for underserved populations within our Kansas City community, entirely led by students. What people are usually less familiar with is the role JayDoc plays in developing the next generation of medical professionals. As I reminisce over my time with JayDoc and my position on the board, I realize the impact JayDoc has made in reminding me of the core reasons I initially chose this profession. For example, in the rigor of studying for my classes and clinical labs, I often lose sight of what medicine truly is at its core, and I forget the factors that drove me to pursue healthcare. Yet, JayDoc has bridged my academics with my mission as an aspiring physician: aiding those in need and making positive impacts on those around me. Being able to witness, firsthand, the impact I make on my patients who otherwise may have felt alien to a basic human right of health and safety has been motivating and uplifting. Every patient, every ask for help, every thankful smile continues to remind me why I, as well as my fellow students, make the sacrifices we do to carve out a path in medicine for ourselves. JayDoc is more than a clinic for the underserved; it is a community-focused around nurturing and providing for everyone—its patients, as well as, providers. We are thankful for the aid we receive and hope to continue to carry your impact, along with ours, with the support we receive."

David Brown is our Director of Interpreting Services and has worked extensively to increase our outreach in the community. This year, he has implemented innovative ideas within our interpreting program to ensure JayDoc is inclusive and accessible for all members of the Kansas City community. We are so thankful to have him at part of our team!

"At JayDoc I have the privilege of serving as the first Director of Interpreter Services. I am responsible for making sure that our non-English speaking patients, whom are predominantly Spanish-speaking, have interpreters at JayDoc to assist them through their encounter and have the resources they need in their language. On occasion, when I am in clinic, I also serve as an interpreter myself. Working along with the JayDoc team has reaffirmed my passion for becoming a physician who works with underserved communities and being an advocate for health in the Hispanic/Latinx community.

There was a specific patient I saw over the summer who was very upset because she had a hard time hearing out of both of her ears for many months. Originally it was thought she may have something more serious, but it was simply that she had so much wax in her ears that it was blocking her eardrums. The physician and I helped clean out her ears and as soon everything was removed she was elated, yelling “My God I can hear again!” while jumping for joy in the halls of the clinic. As we talked to her before she left, she kept saying how thankful she was because it was JayDoc who helped her hear again.

Reasons like this are why I look forward to every time I volunteer at JayDoc. There is something about seeing the joy in a patient’s face and knowing that we were able to help and guide them with their problem. I truly believe JayDoc is such a vital part of healthcare in Greater Kansas City because of its mission to provide healthcare to underserved populations, as well as providing medical students with invaluable educational experiences."

Grace Hagan is our Director of Internal Community Resources and works extremely hard alongside our community resource interns to provide patients with helpful resources in KC area and referrals for more specialized needs. Grace's experience, detailed below, truly captures the mission of JayDoc. 

"There is something special about the opportunity to work inside the walls of Jaydoc. In a single night, a volunteer can find themselves delivering the news of pregnancy, helping to write a prescription for a life-saving medication, and aiding in the acquisition of community resources for patients and their families. Of course, it is not all beautiful – as there are times when the news is not what we would like it to be for our patients, but we are still able to be that source of what previously seemed to be unattainable knowledge for them. My favorite part about JayDoc is that we are here to help all walks of life. Regardless of where the patient has come from before they enter our doors, if we are able to help them – they will be greeted with respect, understanding, and genuine effort to solve their quandaries. As students, we are given the unique opportunity to practice our skills with real patients under the observation of physicians who are willing to provide their expertise to aid in our development, and to ultimately find the best option for the patient at hand. I will be forever grateful for the lessons that I have learned throughout my time at JayDoc, both while serving on the board and also while volunteering as a student physician. This organization is truly extraordinary."

Today, we hear from Laura Shine! She has been working extremely hard during her term to increase the efficiency of our online operations to ensure we can best organize volunteers and in turn, serve more patients. Please consider making a donation today so we can continue improving JayDoc!

"My name is Laura Shine, and I am the director of Information Management at JayDoc. This position allows me to oversee things such as the JayDoc website, our volunteer portal and all things tech. Being a part of JayDoc is important to me because it provides medical students, such as myself, the opportunity to fill a need in the community for accessible health care. JayDoc is able to address the acute needs of those in the community while also serving as a point of entry into a health care system that might otherwise be difficult for some to navigate. Between the services provided on-site and the connections JayDoc has built with other organizations in the community, JayDoc is able to help patients find solutions."

Tony Mok has been extensively involved at JayDoc since his time as a front desk volunteer. Since then, he has worked extremely hard to ensure that we always have volunteers staffing the clinic so we can continue serving patients. Additionally, he trains all new student physician volunteers and front desk interns throughout their time at JayDoc and helps them to progress in their knowledge and understanding at clinic.

"I began volunteering at JayDoc Free Clinic in my senior year of undergrad. As an undergraduate volunteer, I was always in awe of the student volunteers at clinic. I helped at the front desk in undergrad where I had some patient interaction, but not very much beyond getting them put into the computer system. Once I was accepted into the University of Kansas School of Medicine, I was ecstatic that I would be able to act as a student physician and be "on the other side" of JayDoc and be able to interact with the patients in a clinical setting. Since beginning medical school, I have loved being able to come in and get clinical experience at JayDoc Free Clinic. JayDoc offers one of the very few clinical experiences available for students in their first couple years of school. I have become much more confident in working with patients, other medical students, and doctors. I was also lucky enough to be put in the position of Director of Volunteers as well. I love being able to help train the undergraduate volunteers and other students so that they can come into JayDoc and have the same experiences that I did. JayDoc offers an invaluable service to the residents of Kansas City that would otherwise have no other option for healthcare while at the same time offering crucial clinical experience for young medical students."

We are less than 30 days from the end of the campaign and we NEED your help to reach our goal!

Today, we hear 2 perspectives on how JayDoc has adapted during COVID-19. First, Nick Nordstrom worked extensively along with other board members to design a new protocol that allowed us to SAFELY reopen JayDoc this summer after briefly closing in the spring. Additionally, Jacob Steinle speaks to how many specialty nights improvised and worked extremely hard to continue serving patients as COVID-19 first developed. 

Nick Nordstrom: "Getting JayDoc back open and running after closing down for COVID-19 was a huge challenge for myself and the rest of the board. Every single aspect of how we generally ran clinic had to change. Creating new protocols from the ground up was difficult and took a significant amount of time, energy, and adaptation. I am proud of the resiliency from everyone on the JayDoc board through this, and the meaningful work that went in to help JayDoc be one of the only free student run clinics currently operating in the country."

Jacob Steinle: "Hello, I am one of the directors of Diabetes Night at JayDoc. Our clinic night is somewhat special in that we can form longitudinal relationships with our patients because diabetes is a chronic disease and as such, requires chronic management. Given this, it is of critical importance that we see our patients at the time of their scheduled appointments to provide them medication. When COVID-19 struck the United States in early 2020 and shut down the country in March, we had to improvise. My fellow directors and I, with some help from the executive directors, worked hard to devise a contingency plan that would allow us to continue providing care to these patients. From March 24th to May 19th, we saw patients exclusively through telehealth and I am proud to say that we were able to continue to provide care due to our ability to adapt on the fly and maintain operating, albeit from our homes."

Today, we have the honor of hearing from Natalie Rall, one of Musculoskeletal Night Directors. She perfectly captures how students constantly work above and beyond to serve patients. She works alongside two other MSK Directors, Kellie Griffin and Daniel Pankratz. To help us continue serving patients as Natalie details below, please consider donating.

"The most rewarding part of JayDoc for me is being able to work with my co-directors, some of the most dedicated and patient-focused medical students I know. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were treating a patient who desperately needed knee surgery. With everything going on we didn’t have the resources to help. My fellow director, Kellie, wasn’t discouraged. Instead she called Coliseum Imaging, physicians, and other providers all over the Kansas City area to find our patient pro-bono care. The process was long with many opportunities that fell through. When one promising opportunity turned sour, she was heartbroken that she may have to tell the patient no. Instead of deterring her, she simply worked harder, eventually finding a willing physician and surgery center, Apex Orthopedics, that would do a pro-bono surgery. The care didn’t stop there. My other co-director, Daniel, reached out to multiple physical therapists guaranteeing the patient access to rehab at Empower Physical Therapy that would allow him to regain his strength and functionality. JayDoc would not be able to offer the same level of care without student leaders like Kellie and Daniel."

Megan Rodrigues is our Director or External Community Resources and works extremely hard to ensure our patients have the long term resources they need once they leave JayDoc - this is imperative to our mission. We need the community's help to ensure we can continue connecting patients to these resources.

"I have been involved with JayDoc since my junior year of college: first as a community resource intern, then as a medical student, and now as the director of community resources. For me, connecting patients with resources to help live safe and healthy lives is equally as important as the medical care that they receive in clinic. It is my goal to maintain a well-rounded list of community partners that address patient concerns, such as food and housing insecurity, prescription assistance, or even access to specialty care. The most personally impactful experiences at JayDoc have been working with diabetic patients to gain affordable access to medications. As a type 1 diabetic myself, access to insulin and life-saving medical technology has always been secure and unrestricted despite the incredibly high costs of therapy, a position I'm very fortunate to be in. When the clinic lost our main supplier of low-cost insulin, the health and lives of many of our patients were put into jeopardy. While we have worked to find alternative suppliers, it is my hope that going forward we have a reliable list of diabetic care providers and the means to provide patients with emergency prescription assistance if necessary. 

The community resource consults can provide deeper insight into our patient's lives, and it is a privilege to work with them through potentially vulnerable situations. While I work at JayDoc to help connect patients to different community resources, it will always be a duty of mine to be an advocate for our patients, helping to fight any systemic barriers or injustices that prevent them from living safe, healthy lives."

We still need your help to reach our goal!

JayDoc is the only clinic in the Kansas City area that provides comprehensive prenatal care completely free of charge! 

In honor of Women in Medicine week, here is a word from one of our WHIP night directors, Hannah Nettelblad! 

"JayDoc is important to me and the Kansas City area as a whole because it allows students and providers to work together to deliver medical care to members of our community in need. I love being involved with WHIP night at JayDoc specifically, though, because I am passionate about women’s health and believe that the services provided for our patients and their families through our specialty night are so important and necessary. It has been such a privilege and great learning experience to help provide gynecologic services as well as comprehensive care for women throughout the courses of their pregnancies alongside the WHIP providers, other directors, and volunteers!"

Throughout the campaign, we are looking forward to sharing stories and experiences from the students and directors of JayDoc. What better way to start than with one of our Executive Directors for the 2020-2021 year, Xena Moore!

"As one of the Executive Directors of JayDoc Free Clinic, my role normally consists of directing the team of volunteers for the night, facilitating interactions between students and patients of the clinic, and serving as a leader for the JayDoc Board and Specialty Night Directors. Every day at clinic, it is exciting to be part of an organization that provides important health education and resources while also creating invaluable opportunity to connect students with the Kansas City community. I am incredibly proud to be part of a group that can provide another option of support to the underserved and underinsured in our community. 

During one clinic night this summer, all of the student-physicians were tied up in other patient cases while there was still one patient who had yet to be seen. As an Executive Director, it is uncharacteristic to take patients as we are normally needed to direct other clinic operations, however this patient was marked as a sensitive care, and I decided to see this one so that she should not have to wait long. This patient tearfully told me her story, her trauma, and how the pandemic has impacted her physical and mental health, and how terrified she was to be in our exam room. She confessed that she had not seen a doctor in more than a decade from her anxiety and how she had barely gathered the courage to see us today, but knew she needed to seek help to better support her family and herself. We had a heartfelt conversation about her health needs and situation, and I left her with a list of community resources that could also help her and words of encouragement for seeking help.  

This patient interaction reminded me of why I decided to pursue medicine and pour energy into JayDoc Free Clinic. On leaving the clinic that day, the patient left a note at the front desk thanking everyone for their efforts and commended us for making her feel more comfortable to see a doctor today and in the future. Every patient’s health story is different, and I am proud JayDoc is able to provide that level of comfort and support to all that walk through our doors. It is because of the opportunity to start the change in someone’s health journey, to provide a voice of encouragement and advocacy when a person decides they need help, and to connect our community members of all backgrounds with amazing Kansas City resources that I love to be part of the JayDoc team."