What a group of ten free clinics in the Milwaukee area has discovered is that there are other benefits to teaming up.

Ten clinics in the Milwaukee area joined together in spring 2005 to make the Free Clinic Collaborative.,”

Everyone knows safety exists in numbers.

What a group of 10 free health clinics in the Milwaukee area has discovered is that there are other benefits to teaming up.

The clinics in the Milwaukee area banded together in spring 2005 to make the Free Clinic Collaborative.

"We want to identify issues of importance in providing primary care to the uninsured and underinsured," said Mary Ann Lough, a professor in Marquette's College of Nursing and director of the Marquette Clinic for Women and Children, which is a member of the collaborative.

According to Lough, members of the collaborative have been meeting informally since the spring of 2003 and more formally since 2005.

The clinics are concerned with providing the underprivileged with the kind of care that many don't think twice about, such as paying for ultrasounds and lab tests.

Lough said the collaborative is working on several issues, including a medication-sharing program.

"Obtaining medications for patients is difficult because of costs," Lough said. "We're working together to write grants and find ways to get a common medication system for all the clinics to use."

The clinics in the collaborative would also like to develop an emergency room database that they can tap into for information when providing post-ER care. The database would also help the clinics share information about patients who frequent multiple clinics in the collaborative.

Marquette's College of Nursing sponsors the Marquette Clinic for Women and Children. College of Nursing instructors staff the clinic and Marquette nursing students work there during their clinical coursework.

"Undergraduate and graduate students rotate through the clinic getting hands-on experience and seeing role models giving care," Lough said.

The clinic, open one day a week, also does health and nutrition promotions, manages sudden and chronic illness medications and orders some lab tests.

Other clinics are affiliated with religious congregations and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Unity Evangelical Lutheran Church hosts the Open Door Free Clinic in the church's lower level at 1025 E. Oklahoma Ave.

"A bunch of nurses in the congregation saw that people at our soup kitchen were struggling to take care of themselves," said Amy Becker, pastor of Unity Lutheran. "They were choosing food over medications and other health care."

A previous pastor and a group of church members decided to host a free clinic along with the soup kitchen.

Becker said the Open Door Free Clinic operates out of the church most Wednesdays and is trying to be open more often.

According to Elizabeth Fayram, clinical associate professor at UWM, the university's Institute for Urban Health Partnerships manages three clinics, two of which are part of the Free Clinic Collaborative.

"They are nurse-managed clinics that work with the community to provide primary care and disease prevention services on a sliding scale," Fayram said. The sliding scale means that patients are charged for their care based on their income levels.

The Marquette clinic is open on Thursdays and is located at 1821 N. 16th St. at Cross Lutheran Church. The church also hosts the Bread of Healing Free Clinic on days when the Marquette clinic is not open.

Lough said the clinic serves 15 to 20 patients per day, in addition to walk-ins.

"This work fits the mission of the college and the university," Lough said.

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