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DC Students Assist DRMC, Mercy and Clinic in Innovative Partnership
to Provide Health Care Clinic

April 6, 2011

 

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College (DC), Defiance Regional Medical Center, Mercy Hospital of Defiance, and Defiance Clinic announced today an innovative partnership to provide a free monthly primary health care clinic for residents of Defiance County.

Under the initiative, Defiance Regional Medical Center, Mercy Hospital of Defiance and Defiance Clinic will provide physicians, nurses, equipment and medical expertise to jointly host and operate the primary health care clinic. DC students, working through DC’s pioneering student-run non-profit, Project 701, will welcome patients, assist medical professionals in recording patients’ income eligibility and medical histories, offer referral information for additional community services, and coordinate marketing and outreach.

“This is a unique partnership of four local institutions that care about the community, whose goal is to provide much needed assistance to those in need of primary care in our area,” said Gary Cates, Executive Director of Defiance Regional Medical Center. “We remain focused on developing innovative ways to help those in need of medical care, and we are thrilled to be part of this unique effort.”

“We are pleased to be teaming up with Defiance Regional Medical Center and Defiance College to provide this service to our community,” said Chad Peter, President and CEO of Defiance Clinic. “It is rare that different healthcare organizations and a college join efforts to work in such a cooperative manner. We feel this can truly be a path-breaking model.”

“This is a real win-win for everyone,” said Defiance College President Mark C. Gordon. “Our pre-med, nursing, athletic training, and other health-related students will be able to get experience shadowing the doctors and medical professionals from these three fine institutions; our social work students will get experience offering referral information; and other students are receiving invaluable training in how to operate a major service project. And, at the same time, we are helping three outstanding medical institutions in their generous efforts to provide primary care for those in need.”

Cates, Peter, and Gordon all offered high praise for DC students Rachael Lange and Brittany Coats who they said put in an incredible amount of time and high quality work in doing the research necessary to help this partnership come together. They noted that the Defiance College students working on Project 701 are already showing the kind of beneficial impact this path-breaking non-profit can have for the local community.

Defiance County residents who are uninsured or otherwise in need of medical care will be welcome to come to the free monthly clinic for medical services at the Medical Office in North Pointe Commons, 1018 Ralston Ave., Ste. 102, Defiance, Ohio. Specific dates for the monthly clinics, which will start in late summer, will be announced by August. Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

Project 701 is a separate legal entity, incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio, run by a Board of Directors comprised of DC students, faculty, administrators, and alumni. It is administered as part of Defiance College’s McMaster School for Advancing Humanity. The organization incorporates the strengths of various academic disciplines in order to develop innovative strategies to address community needs. It also provides entrepreneurial training and experience that will enable students to even more effectively use the skills and knowledge they learn in the classroom.

Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.