The student-run USF Health BRIDGE Clinic was one of the top recipients of a new funding source created by the Rotary Club of Temple Terrace. In May, the club held an inaugural fundraising event, the Craft Brewfest, to help support organizations that paralleled their mantra “service above self.”
(L-R front row) Dr. John Malone, Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, Viktor Flores, Bailee Olliff, (L-R back row) Rich Downs, Steve Amidei, Dottie Iwerks, Hazel Hall, Gerald Iwerks, Cheri Donohue, Dr. Ed Gonzalez, Dr. Frederick Slone, Dr. Lucy Guerra, Kathryn Dean and Stephanie Hudley.
“The BRIDGE Clinic was a natural fit because, if ever there was a group that meets our motto, it’s the students who run this clinic, even after a full day of class work,” said USF Health Professor of Pediatrics Kathleen Armstrong, PhD, the newest Rotary President.
The Craft Brewfest took place in Woodmont Park and sold 1,000 entry tickets and had 60 varieties of beer for tastings.
Bailee Olliff and Viktor Flores are volunteer student directors for the clinic located inside the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare.
Eight Rotarians visited the community clinic to award a check for $2,500.
“We can’t do what they do so it’s better for us to support them,” said Cheri Donohue, event chairperson and former club president.
“We see people from all walks of life, all different cultures, people who either can’t afford health care or have some sort of a barrier that does not allow them to pay for health care,” said Lucy Guerra, MD, associate professor of medicine and a faculty mentor for the BRIDGE Clinic, when she described the opening of the clinic.
The clinic provides weekly evening services and is run by fourth-year medical students, Viktor Flores, Bailee Olliff, Kathryn Dean and Stephanie Hudey with guidance from Ed Gonzalez, MD, Frederick Slone, MD, and Lucy Guerra, MD, and other committed USF health practitioners, faculty members and students.
USF Health College of Pharmacy students, Pablo A. Marrero-Nuñez and Heather Strouse, with patient, Elilian Williams, during a BRIDGE Clinic cross-disciplinary consultation.
Photos and story by Sandra C. Roa, USF Health Office of Communications.
