September 17, 2026. By Sam Doughton. FOX 8 WGHP. Yahoo! News

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Caroline Curtin and Taylor Sabato, two students at Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine, spotted a need in the Winston-Salem community shortly after moving into town.  

The nonprofit City With Dwellings says that many people dealing with homelessness walk over 15 miles a day, which can result in ulcers, necrotic wounds and other issues that are often left untreated.  

Spotting that need, Curtin and Sabato, who are both North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellows, which is a program that supports graduate health students with a passion for addressing health disparities and social justice by helping fund community projects that improve health outcomes, partnered with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and City with Dwellings to start a wound clinic for the homeless in Winston-Salem.  

The clinic, which is open on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at City with Dwellings on Broad Street in Winston-Salem, helps those experiencing homelessness get treatment for their wounds.

It also gets them into the Atrium Health ecosystem for any other health issues, as well as connected with City with Dwellings, which helps folks experiencing homelessness transition into housing. 

Sabato says that in addition to that treatment, connecting with their patients has been its own reward. 

“We’re providing a service that can be vulnerable for some individuals,” Sabato said. “Many individuals have opened up to us, told us their stories, explained what happened behind their wounds. Really getting to connect with individuals, hear their stories and hear what they need from us has been very empowering and very rewarding.” 

Forty of Curtin and Sabato’s classmates have joined in to volunteer at the clinic, which both Curtin and Sabato hope can get the funding to become permanent in the future.

A mobile clinic is also being planned by the pair to help meet their patients where they are.