The Saturday morning begins at 7am when I wake up to prepare for clinic. After the usual morning preparations, I drive over to the Vet Med parking lot at 8am to meet with other Willow Clinic members. No matter the time of year, 8am is always chilly, but quickly begins to warm up. Once everyone has arrived, we split up and carpool over to the Salvation Army in Sacramento. The medical students arrive around 8:30 am and clinic begins. Undergraduates are split up into two groups, one for reception and one for intake/shadow. Some days I volunteer to shadow, which is truly an eye-opening experience.

Reception
The members in reception are in charge of recruiting homeless patients from the surrounding area and then helping them to fill out a form with questions about their medical history. After the form is completed, each patient is assigned a number; this designates their place in line to be called. Waiting patients will congregate in the reception area or go about on their daily activity such as chatting with friends out in the “yard” or attending morning meetings in the cafeteria. So that people in intake can find the patient later on, people in reception write down a brief physical description of the patient and where he or she is located.

Intake
Undergraduates working in intake are responsible for taking down the vital signs and immunization history of each patient. Once called from his or her respective location, patients are taken to our intake room where their blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and respiration are measured. During this time, many undergraduates also take the opportunity to chat with each patient to help them relax. Some homeless individuals are quite talkative and will tell you everything about their lives! After vitals are logged, the undergraduate then go present their patient's case to the medical students, In which they include a brief summary regarding patients vitals and the chief complaint. Then the undergraduate follow the medical students into the screening room to examine the patient.

Screening
In the screening rooms, medical students will do several tests such as blood sugar and respiratory capacity, as part of a basic physical for each patient. Medical students will also address any concerns about their health which each patient may have. Although undergraduates do not normally play a role in this aspect of clinic, many have the opportunity to shadow the medical students in the screening rooms (below).

Health Presentations
About once a month, undergraduate volunteers will give patients and residents of Salvation Army a brief prensentation on a health issue which directly affects the homeless population. This is an excellent educational opportunity and also allows undergraduates to develop their speaking and leadership skills. Presentations cover a variet of topics including: dentaly & hygiene, diabetes, hypertension, foot care, asthma, skin cancer, mental illness, lice/scabies, and much more. Presentations conclude with a brief question & answer session.

Physician / Medical Student Shadowing
One or two undergraduate volunteers can sign-up to shadow a medical student and physician preceptor for the clinic day. Here, undergraduates can observe how the physician performs a brief history and physical, asks questions, and collects/interprets various health information. Our preceptors are excellent teachers and are very willing to explain the tests they perform and what the results indicate. Many members consider shadowing to be their favorite position at clinic.