In the 1960s, Seattle started to take shape as a major city. The Space Needle joined the skyline, the first cars drove down the Seattle Freeway (later renamed I-5), and the city’s first community health centers popped up in neighborhoods. Neighborcare Health, the largest provider of primary medical and dental services to low-income and uninsured people in Seattle, traces its origins to the beginning of this community health movement and to West Seattle.

Neighborcare Health at High Point medical and dental clinic in West Seattle is the culmination of two of the first community health centers in Seattle—the Joe Whiting Dental Clinic and High Point Medical Clinic. These volunteer–based clinics were an integral part of the changes in health care delivery sweeping the country in the late ‘60s. Many of the first health centers were operated in converted apartment units, fire stations and even taverns.

In the beginning

As the civil rights movement grew, the leaders of Seattle’s community health movement emerged. Two young medical students from the University of Washington revealed research on how health disparities and access to care were impacting the overall health of people in Seattle. They found that a person living in low-income housing in West Seattle would need to take at least two buses and spend more than two hours to get to their nearest source of health care. In response, the High Point Medical Clinic—later renamed Neighborcare Health at High Point--was opened in two, three-bedroom housing units in July 1969. The clinic was an immediate success, with 15 patients cared for on the first night.

Health care home for 50 years

Joyce Williams, a High Point resident and Neighborcare Health patient since 1968, is the daughter of Sandra M. Trent, a founding board member of the High Point Medical Clinic and Joe Whiting Dental Clinic.

“My mom understood the importance of low-income people getting access to health care, being that she was low-income herself,” said Joyce. “It wasn’t until I was older that I realized just what a pioneer she was.” Joyce now honors her mother’s legacy by serving on the board at Neighborcare Health.

Needed then and now

Today, community health centers are an indispensable part of mainstream health care, providing quality, cost-effective, whole-person care tailored to patients’ needs, culture and experience. Neighborcare Health serves more than 75,000 patients in Seattle and on Vashon Island in 27 medical, dental and school-based clinics. They serve people who are living on low incomes, uninsured, experiencing homelessness and facing many other barriers to health care. No one is turned away due to inability to pay and all are welcome.

Joyce says she has remained a patient all these years because the staff have always understood what many medical institutions do not. “They understand that we are not rich, medications cost, and helping people get what they physically and emotionally need helps our communities thrive.”

Learn more about Neighborcare Health at www.neighborcare.org or call 206-461-6943. Neighborcare Health at High Point is located at 6020 35th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98126.