- [Announcer] NPT reports: Aging Matters.

(dramatic music) - I think healthcare's a human right, right?

I think everyone should have access to it no matter where they come from, no matter what their demographic is, their race, their gender, cis, trans, I don't care.

I think you should have access to it.

- [Narrator] Morgan Williams directs the student-run Salt Wagon Clinic at Meharry Medical College.

She and about 30 other student doctors volunteer their time outside of classes to provide free medical care under the supervision of a licensed doctor.

- If we can just make it easy for you to get the access that you need, then your life could be changed forever.

Put your hands together like you're praying and push.

And does that cause that same pain?

- [Mary] I can feel the stiffness.

- [Morgan] Okay.

It just feels stiff?

- [Mary] Mm-hmm.

- [Narrator] Mary Frances Sawyers has been coming to this clinic for years to manage her blood pressure.

She does not have health insurance.

- The students are wonderful.

They accept me no matter what.

So it ain't necessarily about having everything free, free.

It's being able to see a doctor willingly.

It's all about the quality of people that you're around, good doctors.

- You also do see the patients that are a little apprehensive because we're med students, and that's a hurdle to get over, but it's also, they recognize that they're getting the best care humanly possible because we check, we double-check, and we triple-check because we don't wanna be wrong.

- [Narrator] These students are also carrying on a legacy linked to their school's origin, the story of Samuel Meharry, who along with his brothers founded the college in 1876 to educate black doctors.

It was a promise Meharry made years before when his salt wagon overturned on a country road and a family of freed slaves came to his rescue.

- If we at Salt Wagon can be that one niche to be, say, hey, let's get this under control so that you don't get hit by COVID or you don't get hit by the next epidemic or pandemic, that's literally why we're here.

(gentle music)