Re-entering with Medicos Amigos a year after the creation of the group

Last year I introduced you to a dedicated group of medical students at Wayne State University (WSU) called Amigos Medicos or Doctor Friends.

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Over the past year, the clinic has doubled its patient volume, and the students are just getting started.

In the last few days of Hispanic Heritage Month, I tracked down these future doctors who are making a difference today for a year.

The past year has been an eventful year for Amigos Medicos at Wayne State. The group provides primary care, chronic disease control and management to residents of southwest Detroit.

For a while the group found themselves without a home.

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“We had patients who had scheduled appointments and suddenly we no longer had a building,” said René Andino-Galva.

Andino-Galva, current co-director of Amigos Medicos, said the group was looking for a new home and found it when the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation.

“They’re like, ‘rent, you don’t have to do that,'” he said. “You can run your clinic in our building and use our space there. And we were like, oh my God, this is a godsend.”

So Amigos Medicos moved and the patient followed. And with the spread of the DHDC, the number of patients receiving care increased.

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“We’ve seen more patient volume, probably about double the amount of patients we saw last year,” John Gallagher said.

We first met John Gallagher last year when he was co-director of Amigos Medicos. He says the number of medical students participating has quadrupled in the past year, and they have another faculty provider donating their time, allowing Amigos Medicos to offer twice as many free clinics.

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“So it’s really growing in every way I could imagine since last year,” said John.

Although Amics Medicos has grown in size, the mission remains the same: a deep commitment to patient care regardless of language or ability to pay for physicals, blood pressure checks, glucose checks and other primary care services.

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“They can be seen as long-term problems that, you know, they would otherwise basically have to live with on a daily basis.” said Nevil Khurana.

Amigos Medicos has also established a new relationship with Caesar Chavez High School where they reach out to families and students, and run a medical club for students interested in pursuing a career in healthcare.

“Kind of helping people get involved in health care or get the health care they need. And then we found that Cesar Chavez has been a perfect way to do that,” John said.

But Amigos Medicos medical students also benefit from the clinics and the relationships they build by providing these crucial services. Learn how to talk to patients, build trust, and get a solid patient history.

“You learned just as much, if not more, by going out and practicing what you learn in the classroom,” Nevil said.

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“Getting more exposure to community gatherings around the school, which is our commitment in the first place, is invaluable,” said Wael Sakr, dean of Wayne State University’s School of Medicine.

And that commitment is also reflected in the Wayne State faculty and student providers who supervise Amigos Medicos and shape the path for these physicians-in-training.

“The way they treat patients, the conversations they have, the way they deliver care to those patients,” Rene said. “I look at him and he’s an inspiration to me.”

In addition to its regular clinic, Amigos Medicos also has a flu clinic in partnership with the Alana Foundation of Bloomfield Hills.

The Foundation is named in honor of Alana Yaksich, who died of the flu at the age of 5 in 2003.

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