Boone Campus Forges New Partnership With Foothills Free Medical Clinic

When Brody Davis decided to volunteer at the Foothills Free Medical Clinic, he thought it would be a good way to test the new skills and knowledge he was learning during his first year of PA school.

“I figured it would be a great opportunity to apply some interviewing skills and work through some clinical reasoning while at the same time contributing to helping provide healthcare to the community,” Davis said. “What I found after my first volunteer day was that it helped me in so many other ways.”

Davis said the demands of didactic year studying had begun to eclipse his enthusiasm for caring for others, but a few hours of talking and listening to patients and helping to work through problems reignited that passion.

“That re-spark helped me become rejuvenated and motivated to learn more and become a better provider,” Davis said.

Students and faculty on the Wake Forest University School of Medicine PA program’s Boone campus connected with the Foothills Free Medical Clinic (FFMC) in Wilkesboro, NC, just a few years ago through Rachel Shepherd, PA-C ’24, a Wilkesboro native who had been volunteering at the clinic since high school.

Now, up to six PA students volunteer at the clinic each month along with Wake PA faculty members Matt Goddard, MPAS, PA-C, and Sarah O’Neal, MS, MPAS, PA-C, Associate Program Director for the Boone campus. O’Neal said working with FFMC has provided students in Boone with experiences similar to what many Winston-Salem students find through the Delivering Equal Access to Care (DEAC) Clinic.

“PA students help room patients, collect histories, perform physical exams, scribe, assist with procedures, provide patient education, and aid in general clinic needs,” O’Neal said. “This is a tremendous opportunity for our Wake PA learners to provide medical volunteer work locally.”

Both DEAC and FFMC offer free medical care to individuals who have no insurance, though DEAC is organized by Wake Forest University School of Medicine students, and FFMC is a local volunteer-operated clinic that had been established for years before the PA program’s involvement.

FFMC is open one Saturday morning per month, though every person who comes to the clinic is seen, regardless of how long it takes. The clinic’s limited physical space means a maximum of six PA students can assist each month. Blake Bloomfield, PA-C ’25 took the lead organizing his classmates volunteer efforts with the clinic, and beginning in the fall of 2024, a formal student volunteer coordinator role was established. Anna Gaskin, a member of the Class of 2026 from Monroe, NC, is the first PA student to hold the office.

Like Davis, Gaskin said working with FFMC has been a great reminder of why she decided to pursue PA school. She also appreciates the opportunity to get to know and get feedback from faculty outside of class.

“Overall, it’s a good experience because it gives you the opportunity to use the skills you’re learning in class in the real word,” she said. “And because you’re working with the community, you get to see a wide range of people and disease states.”