Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Explained

The Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc. was a free health care service in Northern California which remained in service from June 7, 1967 until July 2019.^[1]

Overview

The organization was founded by Dr. David E. Smith in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, California on June 7, 1967, during the counterculture of the 1960s. As thousands of youth arrived in the city, many were in need of substance abuse treatment, mental health service, and medical attention.

The clinics merged in 2011 with Walden House an addiction treatment organization; in 2012 they adopted a new name: HealthRIGHT 360.^[2]

Famous patients

• Charles Manson

References

• Book: Weiss , Gregory L. . Grass Roots Medicine: The Story of America's Free Health Clinics . Rowman & Littlefield . 2006 . 0-7425-4070-7.
• How a 'Hippie Clinic' in the Haight-Ashbury Started a Medical Revolution. Carrie Feibel. The California Report. Aug 11, 2017. KQED

Further reading

• Book: Seymour , Richard . The Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinics: Still free after all these years, 1967-1987 . Partisan Press . 1987 . San Francisco, California.
• Book: Smith , David Elvin . John Luce . Love Needs Care: A History of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic and Its Pioneer Role in Treating Drug-Abuse Problems . registration . Little, Brown . 1971 . 0-316-80143-7 . 77-121434.
• Book: Sturges , Clark S. . Dr. Dave: A Profile of David E. Smith, M.D., Founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics . Devil Mountain Books . 1993 . . 0-915685-08-6 . registration .

External links

• Haight Ashbury Free Clinics - HealthRIGHT 360
• Haight Ashbury Free Clinics website 2007 40th anniversary archive

Notes and References

1. News: Ho . Catherine . August 5, 2019 . End of an era in Haight-Ashbury: Original free clinic closes its doors . San Francisco Chronicle.
2. Web site: Our Mission: History. HealthRIGHT360 . November 28, 2018.