Student Life

CommunityHealth Free Clinic Volunteer Information

Thank you for volunteering with CommunityHealth - one of the largest free clinics in the United States.

 

Return to Free Clinic Scheduler Tool Here

Clinic Details

Address: 2611 W. Chicago Ave (West Town / Ukrainian Village Neighborhood)
Clinic Operational Hours: 5:15-8:00pm on Monday evenings (weekly)
Patient Population: Low-income, uninsured and underinsured adults in Chicago, with large percentage of Spanish and Polish speaking patients (trained interpretors are onsite at clinic).

Required Onboarding

After signing up for a clinic, you'll be connected with Rubi Miranda from CommunityHealth (CH) (rmiranda@communityhealth.org) to get set up for their required onboarding process (online). 

  • When the CH Onboarding is completed, Malon will email you the Username and Password for the EHR system Athena. Note: If there’s a lag between the time you onboard and the first time you volunteer, you may need to email Malon for a password reset.

Please review the full CommunityHealth Preceptor Guide prior to your volunteer shift! 

Arrival Information

The first patient is scheduled for 5:15pm, so please plan to arrive for your shift by 5:30pm. Clinic will typically run until 7:30 or 8 pm. If you're running late due to traffic, just let us know! 

Parking: Free street parking is normally available directly on Chicago Avenue, or around the corner on Rockwell Street. 

Building Code: Once you enter the building, you'll go to the door on the right with a keypad. This code will be shared with you prior to your shift. 

CH Street View

Clinic Workflow

  1. Each Patient will first be seen by a medical student, who will take their vitals and history, and potentially start their exam. The student will then come out and present the patient to you; then you and the student will return to the room to make a plan of care together with the patient. 
    • The student will write a visit note in Athena. Please review and sign this note before you go. 
  2. CommunityHealth has a pharmacy and lab onsite, closing at 7pm. Before each patient leaves, please submit any orders for prescription or labs so they can go right to the inhouse CH Pharmacy / Lab for their needs. 
  3. Since we have different physicians every week precepting at CommunityHealth, there is a shared clinical inbox. Please check this during clinic before you leave to make sure all patients get results, answers to their questions, etc. in a timeline fashion!

A: Yes! Any internal medicine-trained physician with an active UChicago affiliation can precept at CommunityHealth. PGY-2+ residents may also precept so long as a fellow or attending is also precepting the same night.

A: Athena. We find that Athena works very well, and CommunityHealth has a comprehensive Athena tutorial to make using the EMR as easy as possible.

A: Typically, clinic will be staffed by 4 UChicago medical students and 1-2 physicians. Each student will see 1-2 patients for a max clinic schedule of 4 or 6 patients. Students typically perform the initial H&P and then present to the attending/resident physician, who will see the patient with the student to finalize the A&P and put in any necessary orders/referrals for the patient. Students typically write notes before discussing with physicians.

A: We ask that physicians precept at CommunityHealth about once a month, if possible. 

Questions? Contact us! 

If you are interested in becoming a physician volunteer for CommunityHealth's University of Chicago clinic OR have any questions, please reach out: 

To learn more about the Pritzker Free Clinics, visit our website! 

Return to Free Clinic Scheduler Tool Here