UCSD Student‑Run Clinic Describes Free Medical and Dental Services at Lemon Grove Academy
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Summary
UCSD representatives described a student‑run free clinic on the Lemon Grove Academy campus that provides medical and dental services to uninsured students and immediate family members. The program has operated locally since 2011 and reported thousands of clinical visits and hundreds of dental services in the last year alone.
Three UCSD clinicians and program directors briefed the Lemon Grove School District board on Sept. 9 about the UCSD student‑run free medical and dental clinic that operates at Lemon Grove Academy and elsewhere in San Diego County.
Michelle Johnson, medical director, said the Lemon Grove clinic began in 2011 (medical) with dental added in 2012 and moved to current campus space in 2014. Johnson said UCSD medical students provide directly supervised care and that the clinic offers primary care, labs, imaging, social work, vaccinations and access to specialty care across UCSD's network when needed. "At our Lemon Grove site specifically, we see uninsured family members of any of the children in the Lemon Grove School District," Johnson said.
Donna Silverstein, dental director, described the dental program's scale: predental students and volunteer dentists provide comprehensive dental care, including pediatric dentistry and orthodontics; the Lemon Grove clinic operates multiple mornings and one evening per week for orthodontics. Susie Yamaguchi, another dental director, and Silverstein said the program provides screenings in schools, trains student "Dental Health Ambassadors," and reported that last year the Lemon Grove site delivered more than $297,000 in dental services and more than 325 dental visits.
Trustees and several parents in the audience praised the clinic. Trustee Cristiano recounted a family experience: after a prior bad experience with another clinic she said the UCSD team made her daughter comfortable and that she now refers eligible families. Trustees discussed promoting the clinic at back‑to‑school events and PTA meetings and exploring joint grant opportunities to sustain and expand services.
The UCSD team asked staff and families to refer eligible patients by email and invited the board to tour the clinic, noting an active orthodontics clinic the same evening.