The University Muslim Medical Association (UMMA) community clinic aims to serve as a non-profit clinic to service those of the South Los Angeles community who might lack health insurance, beunemployed, or possibly be impoverished by providing free healthcare services. Originally establishedin 1996 by undergraduate and graduate students attending the University of California, Los Angeles theclinic now seeks to ensure that the inhabitants of the surrounding community receive proper medicaltreatment and has since serviced 15,000 patients in the last four years.

     The clinic originated as a student run organization with roots in the Muslim Student Association atUCLA. Since its origin, the clinic has continued to hold strong relations with the campus it originated fromby establishing the UMMA Volunteer Project (UVP) to correspond with its various programs and eventsin which volunteer participation is needed. This project not only benefits the UMMA community clinic byproviding them with a core UCLA volunteer base but also by serving as a volunteer channel for thosein the surrounding areas. Furthermore, UVP offers valuable opportunities to those UCLA students whowould like to gain hands-on experience in the health related field, as well as provide those students withleadership and clinical experience.

     In conjunction with the UVP, UMMA clinic is resolved to not only provide treatment for immediatehealthcare concerns but to also, practice preventative medicine to combat health ailments afflicting thegeneral surrounding community. This is not only done by means of their clinic, but though various otherservices community outreach events held to increase community cognizance and awareness. Theseevents include, but are not limited to health fairs, the annual tax day, the Reach Out and Read program,and the Family Hike day.

     To further address the needs of the underserved community, UVP is launching a new site at theNew Horizon School located in South Los Angeles. With a high number of UCLA students willing tovolunteer, the UMMA community clinic and UVP has responded by creating a health education seriespositing to combat obesity through physical fitness and nutrition education. UVP intends on obtaining thisgoal by attending site every Sunday for an hour and a half, where 30 minutes are spent in an engagingand informative workshop, meant to provide health information, and then the remaining 60 minutes willbe spent in physical activity. This new program will continue to service the South Los Angeles communityand falls in line with both UMMA and UVP’s purpose to both provide immediate and preventativehealthcare.

     Finally, to service its own volunteer population UVP intends on holding a Medical SpanishWorkshop aimed to educate and inform its volunteers with a class where common Spanish medicalvernacular will be taught. By conducting this workshop, volunteers will become familiarized with Spanishmedical terms and basic Spanish to better accommodate servicing UMMA clinic’s large Latino patientdemographic. UVP intends on ensuring that this workshop is beneficial to its volunteer base by holdingfollow-up 10 minute review lessons during Volunteer staff meetings.

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