New clinic at Concordia University gives students real-world training, patients low-cost care

MEQUON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Concordia University Wisconsin offers more hands-on training for students while providing low-cost healthcare for the community through an addition to its campus.

Clinics offering physical, occupational, and speech therapy have been vital to the school's curriculum.

"We have community members coming in who have run out of their insurance or don't have insurance. It's a great opportunity to work with clients and practice before they go on to their fieldwork placements. But then, it's also a great opportunity for our clients to help them to reach their goals," Occupational Therapist and Clinic Coordinator Kelly Osowski said.

For the first time since they began the clinic, they have a space dedicated to those services right on campus.

"So, when we planned the clinic, we planned it for multiple uses by multiple professions," Interprofessional Clinic Coordinator Lois Harrison said.

"This gives us the flexibility to use this space when we want to use it, how we want to use it. Then that allows us to serve more individuals from the community, especially when we're talking about our clinics or the services we're doing. We do a lot of screenings and things like that that benefit the community."

Students, supervised by instructors, can work face-to-face with the community during clinic hours.

"It allows us to get out of those classroom seats that we sit in and work on not only the hands-on skills but the personal skills you can practice with a patient to really build rapport, and that's in the long run what's going to give you the best results," Physical Therapy Student Gabrielle Fields said.

The clinic is called the Interprofessional clinic because its focus is on teamwork to teach students how to co-treat patients with other disciplines.

"Having that experience early is offering us the confidence to sit in that room, even as a student, and offer up what we know is going to be best for the patients we're advocating for," Fields said.

The clinic will have an open house and dedication from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday. If you are interested in requesting services, visit www.cuw.edu/IPE-Clinics.