About Us
Mission
The mission of Phillips Neighborhood Clinic is three-fold:
We will increase accessibility of comprehensive, patient-centered, quality health services to patients with unmet needs
We will develop compassionate, culturally sensitive future health professionals in an interprofessional, team-based learning environment
We will support community partnerships and promote overall health and wellbeing in the communities we serve
Our Duty to Our Patients
The patients we serve at the PNC come from a diverse array of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Our goal in making PNC services available to our patients is to provide everyone the opportunity to receive free, quality health care regardless of their insurance situation, citizenship status, or financial background. Because our patient population is largely Spanish-speaking, we offer Spanish interpreter services every night the clinic is open. Patients visiting the clinic have access to some of the best physicians in Minnesota. Through partnerships with Fairview and surrounding hospitals, the PNC is able to offer patients nearly any lab test and many prescriptions free of cost. Patients visiting the clinic are also encouraged to take advantage of physical therapy, nutrition, and mental health counseling services. In addition to these services, the PNC offers its patients guidance in securing resources that will help patients and their families find more stable sources of health care and ways to access other community supports in an effort to help them live safe, healthy, and independent lives. Because the PNC is not meant to be a primary care facility, we do our best to help our patients take the necessary steps to finding a regular source of health care. Until this is achieved, however, we owe it to our patients to provide the best care we can in a professional manner.
History
The Phillips Neighborhood Clinic started with the vision of Dr. John Song, an assistant professor of medicine and bioethics at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Song saw an opportunity for students to help create and operate a free health care clinic for the uninsured and underinsured of Minneapolis and the surrounding communities. He soon found a passionate group of health professional students from the University of Minnesota who shared his vision. The early years of the clinic involved a struggle to find space and consistent sources of funding. In 2003, the clinic found a new home in the basement of Oliver Presbyterian Church and a new name: the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC). The clinic operated as a satellite clinic of the Community University Health Care Clinic (CUHCC) until 2006. During the 2006-2007 school year, the PNC underwent an organizational transition from a CUHCC satellite clinic to a joint partnership between the University of Minnesota Physicians (UMP) and the University of Minnesota Medical School. The clinic reopened in June 2007 under the medical direction of Dr. Brian Sick, an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and the Medical Director for the University of Minnesota’s Primary Care Center. Since 2007 the PNC has seen exciting progress in the diversity of services provided and the number of patients served. In 2009, the PNC was able to move from one night of services to two nights (Mondays and Wednesdays). This was an exciting change as the clinic was able to provide services to 1100 patients in 2009; more than double the 512 patients seen in 2008. In 2014, the PNC moved to its current location in the basement of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and now offers its services on Monday and Thursday evenings.