The Cycle of Poverty & Poor

Health:
The Impact of Free-Clinics & Volunteering
Daphne Nelson, U.C.D.A.
 Your Income Affects More Than Just Your Wallet:

Figure 1. Illustrates the relationship between poverty and poor health, retrieved
from http://www.uta.fi/med/tacc-
gh/sdh/key_areas/economic_stability/poverty/page3.html
Do you know anyone currently
stuck in this cycle?
How Many People Deal With Recurrent Illness?

Figure 3 CDC’s current figures of Chronic

Disease. Note that the results of these figures
displayed at the bottom account for $3.3
trillion in yearly healthcare costs in America.
Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/in
fographic/chronic-diseases.htm
To make matters worse, almost half (4 in 10)
American Adults have two or more chronic
diseases which explains how the cycle can
progressively get worse, depending on the
individuals circumstances.

Background Image retrieved from

https://www.learn-english-have-fun.com/illnesses
-vocabulary.html
Lack-Of-Access To
Healthcare
Image retrieved from https://www.escr-
net.org/news/2015/ensuring-right-life-all-
recognizing-its-escr-content

The Atlantic reports that “29 million uninsured Americans who generally can’t
see a doctor or pay for a prescription until they’re sick enough to go to the
emergency room” (Reid, 2017). This statement may suggest that diseases aren’t
typically addressed until they’ve progressed into more serious stages, which
are harder to treat along with increased costs.
Image retrieved from
https://pilgrimsbeacon.com/globalist
-tactics/big-pharma/
Free-Clinics: Impact on Non-Emergency visits to the E.R.

“We found that the group of

individuals who had access to
primary care at the local FCs (free-
clinic’s) were significantly less
likely than the group of uninsured
individuals who were not enrolled in
a FC to use the ED (Emergency
department) for care with lower
levels of clinical complexity”
(Hwang W, Liao K, Griffin L, Foley
Image retrieved from https://www.lifespan.org/centers- KL, 2012).
services/emergency-services-rhode-island-hospital
What Can Be Done?

Image retrieved from

https://www.123rf.com/photo_6520
0168_preventive-medicine-word-
cloud-concept.html
 A Call To Action: Volunteer!
There are many local clinics and
organizations that provide services for
the underserved population in Utah, as
seen below:

● Maliheh Free-Clinic
● Utah AmeriCorps program
● United Way: Utah 211
● Utah Food Bank

Image retrieved from

https://haverfordlibrary.org/teenvolunteers/volunteer-
2055043_1920/
 Outreach
It feels good to help
people. Trust me, I’m
(going to be) a
doctor.
What is The Maliheh Free-Clinic?
 Free Health Care Services for Low-income Individuals
Services Offered: without insurance
● Routine
medical visits
aimed to
prevent
illness and
manage current
disease(s).
● Educational
Services
 How To Become a Maliheh Volunteer

1. Apply online
2. Interview
3. Volunteer!

Image retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/slcc_serves/

 Maliheh Free-Clinic: Service-Based
Learning

My personal experiences at the Maliheh Free-Clinic:

I was profoundly impacted on a personal, educational, and

professional level. As I continue my journey to become a
Physician & Dentist, I will ensure to provide for the
underserved population as well as attempt to reform dental &
medical healthcare.
 Conclusion:
Consider the
consequences of what
may result as the cycle
progresses. See Figure
4:

Figure 4. The results of the Poverty and Poor

Health Cycle. Retrieved from
http://homelessmentallyillinla.blogspot.com/2007/
12/poor-and-sick.html
Image retrieved from https://www.almitraberry.consulting/news/2018/8/9/the-definition-of-insanity
 References

AmeriCorps and National Services. (2018). UServeUtah: Utah Commission on Service & Volunteerism.
Retrieved from https://userve.utah.gov/utahamericorps/

*ESchooltoday. (2017). The Vicious Cycle of Poverty. Retrieved from

http://www.eschooltoday.com/poverty-in-the-world/the-vicious-cycle-of-poverty.html

Girijala, R. L., & Bush, R. L. (2018). Review of Socioeconomic Disparities in Lower Extremity
Amputations: A Continuing Healthcare Problem in the United States. Cureus, 10(10), e3418.
doi:10.7759/cureus.3418

Hwang W, Liao K, Griffin L, Foley KL. (August 23, 2012). Do free clinics reduce unnecessary
emergency department visits? The Virginian experience. J Health Care Poor Underserved. Retrieved
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24212168

Maliheh Free Clinic. (2019). Where Someone Cares. Retrieved from https://malihehfreeclinic.org/

Reid, T.R. (June 15, 2017). How We Spend $3,400,000,000,000: Why More Than Half Of America’s
Healthcare Spending Goes To Five Percent Of Patients: The Atlantic. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/how-we-spend-3400000000000/530355/

Thayne Center. SLCC Serves [instagram]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/slcc_serves/

United Way Utah 2-1-1. (2019). Help Starts Here. Retrieved from https://211utah.org/
 References

Utah Food Bank. (2019). Utah Food Bank: Fighting Hunger Statewide. Retrieved from
https://www.utahfoodbank.org/