La Casita de la Salud Expands Providers to Offer Medical and Dental Care in Westchester | Touro Faculty of Dental Medicine

NYMC and TCDM students and faculty partner to deliver free medical and dental services

NYMC and TCDM pupils and faculty spouse to provide free of charge medical and dental products and services

Right after a comfortable opening in April, the new La Casita de la Salud — which is Spanish for ‘the minimal residence of health’ — formally opened on May possibly 6. The clinic operates on one particular Thursday a month from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with strategies for expanded operations in the long term.

Sufferers will acquire longitudinal care, although college students will get important clinical practical experience below the supervision of school advisors Lori Solomon, M.D. ’99, M.P.H. ’09, assistant professor and chair of the Division of Relatives and Local community Medicine and director of the Family members Health Center, and Raquel M. Rozdolski, D.M.D., clinical assistant professor of dental Medicine.

“The scholar-operate clinic is an possibility for our students to actively take part in furnishing important treatment to these who have no position else to go, those that are marginalized,” stated Ronnie Myers D.D.S., dean of TCDM.  “They will attain an comprehension of their means to make a change in the lives of these sufferers in their foreseeable future exercise.”

Billed as a one quit shop for medical and dental treatment, a regular individual visit will get started with a actual physical examination at the Loved ones Health Center, followed by a warm handoff to Touro Dental Health for a dental examination and care. It is a genuine design of an interdisciplinary clinic and interprofessional schooling.

“I am really proud of the medical and dental college students for doing the job alongside one another to start a student-run no cost clinic in Westchester County,” claimed Dr. Solomon. “They have been doing work by way of this educational 12 months to set this clinic up and it is thrilling to see it start. The college students are understanding a great deal from every other and giving again to the local community.”

“This software is an outstanding expertise for our college students and the enhancement of their interprofessional schooling,” explained Dr. Rozdolski. “Dental students and medical learners are working side-by-aspect as portion of the patient’s health care group in get to deliver coordinated and in depth treatment to the sufferers of our group.”

Care will be delivered by a pre-medical and clinical scholar pair in both equally configurations. Roxanna Nahvi, M.D./Ph.D. candidate Course of 2023, and Benjamin Yee, TCDM Class of 2021, are spearheading the university student initiative and they are in excellent company with the more than 100 college students each and every from NYMC and TCDM who utilized to volunteer at La Casita. In addition to medical practical experience, student volunteers will also obtain precious operational and administration expertise.

“It has been truly awesome to see La Casita evolve during my 4 several years as part of its student leadership,” Ms. Nahvi reported. “My hope is that this clinic can make a big difference in our community in its very own compact way.”

When the large pool of volunteers could not all get the opportunity for a scientific come across, there are a lot of other opportunities for them. Client educators will provide standard health facts on topics this kind of as nutrition, diabetes, bronchial asthma, gum disease, oral most cancers and smoking cigarettes cessation. The co-spot of the Spouse and children Health Center and Touro Dental Health exemplifies the correlation involving oral health and systemic health which will also be a pillar of the patient schooling.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has evidently uncovered wounds in our health care procedure and the unmet health needs of New Yorkers,” reported Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and professor of medicine and pharmacology. “The clinic also represents a excellent opportunity for inter-specialist collaboration and training with both equally the medical and dental college students working jointly in just one location for a prevalent result in to improve people’s health.”

A local community source group will assistance sufferers with assets for dietary meals, medicine and social companies, whilst student volunteers will also get the job done on community outreach to recruit clients by partnering with local community companies and homes of worship. A single Spanish-speaking volunteer will be out there at all of the clinic dates and other language interpreters will be included in the long run.

La Casita will provide exams and laboratory tests at no expense to individuals and will enable them implement for absolutely free or lowered-price prescription drugs, state-of-the-art diagnostic testing and referrals for specialty treatment if vital. Adhere to up appointments will be made for people with the exact same pupil volunteers to present continuity of care, create rely on and a create a patient/provider marriage.

La Casita will work beneath rigorous COVID-19 protocols together with reduced potential, screening procedures, use of personal protective machines and enhanced cleaning methods. To confirm eligibility and routine an appointment, individuals may call La Casita de la Salud at (845) 519-7119 or Touro Dental Health at (914) 594-2700.