Outreach

Over a decade of service at the IU Student Outreach Clinic

Over 11,000 patient encounters and 50,000 volunteer hours

On weekdays, the Neighborhood Fellowship church near 10th and Rural is a school. On Sundays, it’s a church feeding the soul of the community and the people they serve. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, students from IU Indianapolis, Butler, and the University of Indianapolis come together to bring much-needed healthcare, social assistance, and legal aid to the church on Indy’s near Eastside.

“As nurses, it’s our role to be a medical ‘interpreter,’” says experienced nursing mentor Jessica Klipsch. Klipsch has worked alongside the clinic for many years. “Volunteering here, you’ll get interprofessional exposure to learn about other health professions. It’s a good opportunity to practice fundamental nursing skills, too, like taking blood pressures, putting a patient at ease, explaining health conditions, and delivering patient education,” says Klipsch.

It’s the patient education that’s proven so important. As patients cycle through medical partners, “Medical care information can get muddied as people talk to several medical students and residents,” says Klipsch. “But the nurse stays with the patient through all of it.” Part of the magic that happens at the Outreach Clinic works because nurses keep a written document so the patient walks out with a list of things to follow up on, when to come back, what everyone at the Clinic did that day.

Jim Strietelmeier and his wife, Neighborhood Fellowship Elders

The IU Student Outreach Clinic has been a place of compassion when compassion has been needed most of all. It is a place where the dignity of all people is embraced, patient and student alike.

Jim Strietelmeier, Neighborhood Fellowship Elder