JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – If you don’t have insurance, finding affordable medical care is a real challenge. A run of the mill sinus infection could end up costing you hundreds. Did you know that there is place right here in town that will treat you for no charge?
  The Jackson Free Clinic has stood at 925 Martin Luther King Junior Drive for 18 years. If you don’t have medical insurance, you need to know about it.

Director of Education and Research, Jo Jo Dodd, who is also a 3rd year medical student explains, “Anybody who is sick and needs help and doesn’t have insurance is welcome here and needs to reach out to us.”

Hali Peterson is also a Director of Education and Research at JFC. She’s a second year medical student.

Hali adds, “You have hypertension. You have blood pressure. You have problems affording your medication for that or you need to get referred to a specialist. We can do all that here for you at JFC, and we can get you with a financial assistance plan, just to get you the care you need.”

Chronic conditions treated. Prescriptions written for anything but narcotics. And, it’s free?!

Jo Jo explains, “We’re run by medical students, dental students, PT students and pharmacy students, all from UMC, kind of run the place on Saturdays and kind of run the nonprofit side of it as well.”

Volunteer doctors and dentists oversee the operation.

Dental students are here every third week. 

You can book your appointment during the week, but the clinic is only open on Saturdays from 11-4. They typically treat about 30 patients. Like other providers, telemedicine is big at JFC these days. Last year patients from 88 Mississippi Cities came here.

Jo Jo says, “We’re here to support them, kind of give them a leg up on kind of the gap between what is offered by the government and then what they need to actually make it in this world. So, we’re here to support folks who need help.”

Hali concludes, “I feel like just because you don’t have insurance, doesn’t mean you should be left behind and not receive adequate health care that other people are able to get. That’s why I like being a part of the JFC.” And that’s a how you make a difference.  

The Jackson Free Clinic is also great place for medical students to get real world experience. So in the long run, were a getting better doctors and a healthier population thanks to the Jackson Free Clinic.