Mission & History
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Mission
The mission of the Free Clinic of Simi Valley is to provide medical care,
counseling, dental and legal assistance to individuals and families in need, regardless of their ability to pay. History
On March 1, 1971 the Free Clinic of Simi Valley opened, formed in part by the idealism of the decade of the 60’s and in part to meet a community need. The Free Clinic began providing medical services, family counseling, and other services. The space was donated by the Simi Valley Unified School District. At this time, there were no services provided in the community by Ventura County Public Health. All County health services were 45 miles away in Ventura. At this same time, Simi Valley was a young and growing community, with a rapidly expanding population under the age of 25. The Clinic was open only four days a week from 5:00pm to 8:00pm with medical services on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, focused on teenage health issues and marriage counseling.
In 1973, the Free Clinic moved to a larger building located on Tapo Street and was open five days a week, primarily in the evenings. The Clinic occupied only half of the building. Here legal services were added and the Free Clinic became licensed.
During the next 20 years, medical services continued on Tuesday and Thursdays while counseling and legal continued to expand. In 1993, the Counseling Program, moved to a separate office site near Simi Valley Hospital. This allowed for an additional exam room to be created at the main Clinic site. In 2000, the Clinic leased the entire Tapo Street building and the Counseling Program reunited with the rest of the services. With this expansion, a dedicated legal office, administrative office, outside play yard and a group meeting room were created. Services continued to grow and medical services eventually expanded to five days a week and the Clinic established a Licensed Pharmacy. In 2004, the Clinic opened a full service Dental Program, ironically in our original 1971 building. The Free Clinic has grown from a small part time clinic to a full time multi service agency with 6 employees and over 165 active volunteer professionals. The facility is equipped with 3 exam rooms, 5 dental chairs, 4 therapy rooms, a legal office, a small laboratory, and a pharmacy.
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