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Berkeley Free Clinic
Healthcare for people. Not profit.

About Us

Who Are We?

Healthcare for People.

We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right, that power and knowledge should be shared collectively, and that everyone has the right to basic knowledge about their bodies. The vision of the Berkeley Free Clinic is a community that is empowered to sustain its own health.

Values

The values of the Berkeley Free Clinic are healthcare is a right, not a privilege, guided by the four pillars: Respect, Demystification, Inclusion, and Collectivity.

  • These four pillars of Respect, Demystification, Inclusion, and Collectivity connect the Berkeley Free Clinic to its mission of empowering individuals and communities.

Mission

The mission of the Berkeley Free Clinic is to empower individuals and communities by providing accessible, client-centered health services and information.


Four Pillars

  • Respect: We focus on clients, individuals, and communities. We provide objective health services with no bias or judgment.

  • Demystification: We understand that healthcare can be a difficult territory. We show clients they have access and how to navigate the terrain.

  • Inclusion: We strongly oppose aspects of the current paradigm in which healthcare is a privilege. We do not exclude clients or communities in need.

  • Collectivity: The Berkeley Free Clinic sources strength from its volunteers. We are a collective whole that plays a critical role in healthcare.

Our History

 

The Berkeley Free Clinic (BFC) is a radical volunteer health collective that has been providing dental and medical care, peer counseling, and community referrals since 1969, when we formed a street medic collective to care for protesters injured by UC Berkeley police during the People’s Park Riots. Our clinic has stood in solidarity with Black Panther clinics in the 1970s, with lay health workers in the Global South, with queer folks who were rejected by mainstream medicine, and with police brutality victims who feared seeking medical care. It has become an icon in the area, and has served countless thousands in a variety of ways during its 50-year history.

Fees have never been charged for any services, materials, medications or supplies provided at the Berkeley Free Clinic. Income has been generated solely via individual or organizational donations and government programs.

We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right, that power and knowledge should be shared collectively, and that everyone has the right to basic knowledge about their bodies. Unlike most clinics, we are almost exclusively non-professionals – medical services are provided by ordinary people whom we train to provide specific medical/social services. All of us are volunteers and we share decision making power equally.

At the Berkeley Free Clinic, we treat each client with respect and dignity and view their needs within the larger context of their unique circumstances and access to resources. Treatments, referrals and guidance are provided in a client-centered context, and are appropriate to their lifestyle, culture, language and financial situation. We attempt to include clients as thoroughly as possible in their health care process.

“Healthcare for people, not profit.”