Our Mission:
To understand and serve, with dignity and respect, the health and wellness needs of the medically underserved in the San Francisco Bay Area
Since 2010 our goal has been simple, but ambitious: operate a free, volunteer-powered health clinic that provides high-quality, primary care to the hard working uninsured men and women in our community. Because they simply cannot afford to see a doctor, a majority of our patients come to us ill or suffering from chronic disease that have gone unchecked or undiagnosed for years. Every day, we are aware that for most of the working uninsured in our neighborhood, our free clinic is the difference between life and death.
Even with the Affordable Care Act, nearly 90,000 people remain uninsured in San Francisco and San Mateo counties — 25% of this population is in our neighborhood … Mission District, Excelsior and northern San Mateo County. Our goal is to meet the needs of this population, creating a genuine positive impact in our community and leveraging medical partnerships that allow us to support our patients beyond our doors.
Clinic By The Bay is affiliated with Volunteers in Medicine (VIM). VIM is a nonprofit that engages an often untapped workforce — retired physicians, nurses, educators and others — to provide comprehensive primary care to the uninsured and underserved. Their mission is inspiring: “May we have eyes to see those who are rendered invisible and excluded; Open arms and hearts to reach out and include them; Healing hands to touch their lives with love; And in the process heal ourselves.”
We believe that access to medical care is a right. Watch how Clinic by the Bay serves so many people who would otherwise fall through the cracks.
““I so appreciate being part of Clinic by the Bay. All of the staff want to be there, want to teach and learn, provide the best and most comprehensive care possible. It is certain I have learned skills at Clinic by the Bay I would not have learned elsewhere.””
What We've Achieved
2008: Officially founded and registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
2010: Treated our first patient.
2012: Welcomed our 1,000th patient.
2013: Added in-house physical therapy.
2015: Officially licensed by the State of California Medical Board.
2016: Added in-house Mental Health Counseling and launched our Health Coaching program.
2017: Added in-house rheumatology and in-house dermatology, and began using telehealth specialist consultations and interpretation.
2018: Identified the Clinic’s new home, the former Alemany Emergency Hospital and began Capital Campaign.
2020: Established the Food as Medicine program which provides healthy foods to our patients through the food voucher, food pharmacy, and bounty box delivery programs.
2021: Provided COVID-19 support and vaccinations.
2023: Moved into our new clinic space at 35 Onondaga Avenue, the former Alemany Emergency Hospital, one block away from our previous location.