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.”