Isla Vista Community Service Center Medical Clinic

Abstract

This article contains an intensive and extensive summary of reasons why, how, and for what purpose free clinics came into existence. The initial discussion centers around what the unmet needs of the community are that helped to promote the coming into existence of free clinics. The discussion then goes into the problems and the planning necessary for setting up the administrative machinery for the clinic, and issues of the lay board vs. the steering committee. There is a presentation of volunteerism, how to keep these men and women in an alternative institution, and the role of the steering committee. The procedure for how to admit a patient, the appropriate record keeping, and the maintenance of quality care is essential in this article. The concept of service for service as a method of fee payment is raised. In this unique way a patient can “repay” a clinic, through his labor and skills, without it being necessarily an economic fee payment structure for services rendered.