Read original article here: Elon E-Net

In its third year, the fundraiser led by the Elon Physician Assistant Student Society supports the work of Open Door Clinic of Alamance County, which provides free health care to local residents that cannot afford to pay.

Hundreds of runners who sped through the streets around and through Elon University last month raised $17,000 in support of providing health care to those in Alamance County who cannot afford to pay for it through the Great Cape Escape.

It is the most successful effort to-date for the Great Cape Escape fundraiser, which is organized by the Elon Physician Assistant Student Society. The Sept. 23 event centered around a 5K/10K encourages participants to solicit pledges for the effort and then don a superhero outfit as they compete in the race.

Representatives of the effort presented a check for $17,000 to the Open Door Clinic during an Oct. 9 ceremony at Elon’s Gerald L. Francis Center. More than 500 members of the Alamance County community receive their health care from the Open Door Clinic this year, with students in Elon’s Physician Assistant Studies program volunteering at the clinic each week during the academic year.

According to Tracy Salisbury, the director of the Open Door Clinic, the amount will pay for a full year of medications for the hundreds served by the clinic each year.