Sixty volunteer clinicians run this clinic. Four staff hold it together.
Physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and hygienists give one session a month. Interpreters, the front desk and a driver make the session work. Every role is below with its licence type, the time it takes and the places open, and the credentialing steps are stated in public.
One session a month
Physician
See patients at one evening or morning session: primary care and chronic-condition follow-up, with a nurse and a navigator around you. Retired physicians and physicians licensed in another state can use the NC limited volunteer licence.
Nurse practitioner or physician assistant
The same session as a physician, with a collaborating physician on the roster the same night.
Registered nurse
Triage at the start of the session, vitals, lab draws on Thursdays, patient teaching, the follow-up calls between visits.
Pharmacist
Check every prescription against the chart, run the medication room, review the patient-assistance applications the navigator prepares.
Dentist or hygienist
One dental Saturday: extractions, fillings, cleanings when there is time, in the mobile unit or a converted exam room.
The roles that make a session work
Spanish interpreter
Interpret in the room, at the desk and on the navigator's calls. Trained in medical interpretation by the clinic over two evenings; no clinical role.
Front desk
Check patients in, keep the list moving, answer the phone. You see names and appointment times, never charts.
Driver
Bring patients to specialist appointments across the county in the clinic's van, and home again.
Given, not bought
Five steps before a clinician sees a patient here
Stated, not advised: each step names its source. A real clinic’s steps come from its own policy, its insurer, its state boards and HRSA; this page reports a practice.
1 · Licence check
The clinic manager checks every clinical volunteer’s licence against the state board’s public register, and again each year. Nurses, pharmacists and dental professionals against their own boards.
2 · The limited volunteer licence, where it applies
A physician licensed in another state, or retired, can volunteer here on the North Carolina Medical Board’s limited volunteer licence: for clinics that serve indigent patients only, without compensation. The clinic helps with the application; the Board decides.
3 · Federal malpractice coverage
The clinic is a qualifying free clinic under HRSA’s Free Clinics FTCA program and sponsors its volunteer health professionals for “deeming”. A deemed volunteer has federal malpractice protection for work within the clinic’s scope; the clinic applies each year and keeps the letter on file.
4 · Orientation
One evening: the record system, the medication room and the patient-assistance paperwork, how referrals move, what the clinic does not do (no controlled substances, no emergencies — 911), and the interpreter’s role in the room.
5 · A first session alongside staff
The first evening is with the nurse and the clinic manager in the room; a second clinician is on the roster the same night. After that, a session a month, with the nurse always there.
A Monday evening, by role
A physician, NP or PA in each of two exam rooms, thirty minutes a patient.
The staff nurse: triage from five, every vital sign, always in the building.
Fills from the medication room and starts the patient-assistance paperwork.
Spanish, in the room, at every session. Two on Wednesdays.
Check-in, the paper application, the phone, the list for dental day.
The staff member who books everything and calls every applicant back.
A new clinician on a first session, alongside the nurse and the manager.
Seen between 5 and 8. The last one is booked at half past seven.
Tell us which role
Demonstration: this form sends nothing and stores nothing. On a real site it goes to the clinic manager, who calls within one week.
Three hours, twelve to sixteen patients
Two clinicians, one nurse, one pharmacist, one interpreter, two at the desk, the navigator, and whoever is training. The nurse triages from five; the last patient is booked at 7:30. Coffee is on; supper is not, so eat first.
The clinic carries the FTCA deeming, the licence checks and the orientation; you bring the licence and one evening a month. The five steps ↑