Arlington Free Clinic

Arlington Free Clinic provides free, high quality medical care to low-income uninsured Arlington County adults through the generosity of private donations and volunteers.

Why do we exist?

Arlington Free Clinic (AFC) is the only clinic in Arlington offering comprehensive, free medical care to low-income uninsured adults. Arlington Free Clinic keeps over 1,600 low-income Arlington County residents healthy and able to work and care for their families. With Arlington Free Clinic’s comprehensive services, patients are treated for minor acute needs to very serious chronic illnesses. AFC offers primary care, specialty medicine, physical therapy, mental health services, women’s health, patient education and full pharmacy services. 

Arlington Free Clinic is primarily a volunteer run organization supported by a small staff. More than 560 volunteers (including 170 physicians) provide medical care, coordinate clinics, provide interpretation services, assist with administrative tasks, and raise funds to support the programs. There are no paid physicians on staff.  Last year, volunteers donated over 15,000 hours of service to the Clinic. Our volunteers are our greatest asset and make our services to the uninsured possible.

What have you accomplished?

In June 2009, AFC relocated to a new, permanent facility located in the neighborhood where the majority of our patients live. The Clinic, which we own, has been awarded LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Building Council. AFC is the first free clinic in the nation to earn this prestigious recognition for sustainable design and construction. The Clinic not only provides a healthy environment for patients, volunteers and staff, but the energy efficient space is reducing costs associated with operating the facility. This allows us to direct more donated funds to patient care.

Last year, Arlington Free Clinic treated 1,650 patients at over 10,000 medical appointments.  Today’s economy makes our mission more important than ever with more people losing their jobs and their health insurance. When patients get care here, we help them manage their conditions, keep them out of expensive emergency rooms, and better control health care spending.

The needs of Arlington Free Clinic patients are frequently complicated and often urgent.  The story of Marlene is a good illustration.

Arlington Free Clinic Gave Marlene Another Chance At Life!

Her first response was disbelief; her second was fear.  Disbelief that, when practicing the breast self-exam techniques she had just learned in an education class at the Clinic, she found a lump.  And fear - not for herself - but for her husband and three children. She worried about how her husband could manage to care for the children and work the long hours demanded by his job if she wasn’t there.

But there was no denying what she had found. She came to the Clinic the very next day, in tears and fearing the worst.  AFC responded immediately, examined her, and referred her for a mammogram at Virginia Hospital Center. An AFC volunteer Radiologist saw suspicious areas on the mammogram. A biopsy was then performed by an AFC volunteer surgeon.   Marlene’s fears were confirmed. She was 39 and had aggressive and invasive breast cancer. 

Little did Marlene and her husband know just how comprehensive the care and treatment systems of the Arlington Free Clinic were and how many supportive and caring people would be involved in her care.  She had already been assigned to an AFC Nurse Manager and AFC Case Manager.  With the critical testing complete and the diagnosis determined, Marlene’s team counseled her and her husband about the doctors’ recommendations for treatment.  Marlene and Jorge elected to go forward with the recommendations. A mastectomy and reconstructive surgery were then performed by AFC volunteer physicians. 

Marlene’s care management team spent many hours with Marlene and Jorge explaining the treatment each step of the way.  Following surgery, Marlene was sent to an AFC volunteer oncologist for chemotherapy, and for radiation therapy with another AFC medical group.  During her treatment process, partner Virginia Hospital Center covered the cost of diagnostic testing and put Marlene and her family on a much reduced plan to pay for her hospitalizations and treatments. All of the physicians involved in Marlene’s care donated their services. All of the medicines that Marlene needed were provided through the AFC pharmacy.

“If it wasn’t for Arlington Free Clinic,” says Marlene, “I probably wouldn’t be alive today, and my children would be growing up without a mother. It’s important to look beyond the actual patient the Clinic is helping.  Look at the people behind the patient.  It’s not just me-it’s my husband and three children.  We’re all deeply grateful to the Clinic.” Marlene cannot give money to support the Clinic, but she gives back in another significant way. She is now a volunteer providing instruction in breast self-exam techniques.

A diagnosis of cancer is devastating for anyone.  But without medical insurance or financial reserves, people like Marlene would face the crisis without hope. Arlington Free Clinic gives that hope and so much more.

	How do you help people in my community?		Why do you need my support?
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