The Iowa City Free Medical Clinic’s new executive director, Jennie Schmidt, looks to expand outreach efforts at the clinic after the previous director of 30 years retired in March.

Schmidt has worked for 35 years in the field of public education as a teacher, and then as a teacher trainer and a professor of education.

Her concentration has always been on social justice as well as working with immigrant communities. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and she often worked with immigrant children in the classroom.

In addition, Schmidt worked a lot in public school settings working on anti-racism and social justice issues.

“I really believe that education is, and schools are a place to heal society. So, I worked on that for a really long time,” Schmidt said.

In her free time, Schmidt volunteered with immigrant communities as an English second-language tutor and visited inmates in Iowa prisons before the pandemic, particularly those detained for documentation issues.

Beginnings at the clinic

Eventually, Schmidt said, she was ready for a change of scenery, but still loved her time working with immigrants. This work put the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic on her radar.

Through one of her volunteer groups, she received an email advertising the clinic’s need for volunteers who spoke Spanish.

“It just seemed like a really good fit for my interests, my school skills, and some of the things I like to do,” Schmidt said. “People on the outside think it’s been this huge leap, but there’s really a lot similar to being a professor and being an executive director.”

The interview process to become the new executive director was not an easy one. It took about three months with multiple interview sessions, and there were several other potential candidates.

In the first round of interviews, Schmidt spoke to the clinic’s board. In the second round, she met board members in a conference room at Hills Bank and gave a presentation on what her vision would be for the clinic.

One aspect of her vision included expanding the outreach of the clinic. Schmidt said she believes one of the biggest challenges for the clinic is its location in a college town like Iowa City. A portion of the population regenerates every four years or yearly through students’ attendance at the University of Iowa.

The clinic does have some long-time loyal volunteers, donors, and supporters, but the biggest challenge is to reach younger people — particularly people who are new to the hospitals and clinics or new dentists in town.

Director of Clinical Operations Stacy Wilkerson attributed the strength of the clinic to its staff.

“Everyone here will go above and beyond for the patients. They will drive them to appointments if we can’t find other local transit to get them there,” Wilkerson said. “The heart of the clinic lives with the staff and the people who volunteer here.”

Future clinic expansion

The clinic offers free health care to uninsured or underinsured members of the Iowa City community. It specializes in chronic care, so it takes on patients who live with diabetes, hypertension, autoimmune problems, and other ailments.

It also offers acute clinics where physicians treat respiratory, upper respiratory infections, and urinary tract infections. STI testing is also offered at the clinic through Johnson County Public Health.

The clinic also has a dispensary on site where they try to give their patients as much of their medication as they can.

There are many other new advancements at the clinic, such as the growing dental program, with the clinic recently getting a grant to hire its first staff dentists. This means the clinic will no longer have to solely rely on volunteers to offer dental services.

“It’s essentially a doctor’s office. We’re just free, and it’s just amazing how health care team members come together to provide this care at no cost,” Wilkerson said.

One story Schmidt told was of a man who has multiple chronic issues, including diabetes and hypertension, as well as sight problems and fine motor skill issues. He needs to take a lot of medication, and so every month Wilkerson takes that month’s array of pill boxes and arranges the man’s medicine before he comes in to get it.

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“To me, there’s just something about that story that’s the epitome of what the clinic is,” Schmidt said. “I say things like, ‘We put the care in health care.’ I’ve had staff members like Stacy just go above and beyond for their patients. It’s really beautiful.”

The clinic is in operation due to local support from United Way, Johnson and Washington counties, the cities of Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty, and many donors and volunteers.

“Anyone who wants to jump in and be a part of what we’re doing in any of those roles, we would love to have you because the more help we get, the more help we can give,” Schmidt said.