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The Los
Angeles Free Clinic recently celebrated their 20th year of service to
the community with a fund-raiser and party at the Roxy in West Hollywood,
USA. Monies raised from the December 16th event will go into the clinic's
building fund.
Ground was broken for the new building at 8405 Beverly Boulevard on
December 20th. "Our goal; is $2,500,000. We've already raised $2,125,000.
We are halfway there; we're going to build this building for cash,"
according to Mimi West, co-chair of the clinic's building fund.
Among the celebrities that attended the festivities was Frank Zappa.
Zappa told West Hollywood, USA, "It's good this (clinic) exists.
Maybe it ought to be bigger to meet the challenges of the next few years."
Added Zappa, who said he was around when the clinic was founded, "I've
never been there for a shot, but if I ever need one I'll go there because
the price is right."
West pointed out, "We have helped over 800,000 people in our twenty
years. We've never charged a penny; all of our services are provided
by volunteers."
"It's a special kind of place," beamed West. "The miracle
is we are still here, and still free." West said that the free
clinic, funded in 1967 to help the hippies who were congregating on
the Strip, began with a donation of $5,000 from the Monterey Pop Festival
and Lou Adler (one of the owners of the Roxy and its companion clubs,
The Rainbow Bar & Grill and the Whisky-A-Go-Go). "In a way,
the clinic has gone full circle," noted West, who said the clinic
is "working hard to help the 3,000 homeless adolescents that are
on the streets of Hollywood and West Hollywood on any given night."
West is concerned that the highest rate of suicide is among adolescents
like these and is confident the new expanded clinic will be able to
address their needs. "A lot of these kids are throwaways, not runaways."
"We see young people who have never even seen a dentist,"
she added. "Lou, Elmer and Mario (Valentine and Maglieri - the
other two owners of the three popular rock clubs), the record industry
in general, and A & M Records in particular have all been very important
to the clinic. A & M literally kept us open in 1971 with a $10,000
grant," West stated.
The benefit was part of "LA Free Clinic Week", as proclaimed
by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood and the Los Angeles
Board of Supervisors. "All political bodies are giving - it's great!"
exclaimed West. She was particularly excited about "a new kind
of support from the young people." West told them about a new "Teen
Theater" that will create and develop a play to be taken to the
schools, churches, and synagogues to discuss the AIDS crisis. "Kids
will listen to kids. We will take the play all over the county. If we
don't get young people aware, the epidemic will get more horrendous
than it is now."
West is particularly proud that her one building "provides a person
with complete services." As an example, West cited the clinic's
service to battered women. "We provide legal help to keep the batterer
away. If they need medical help, we provide it; if dental work is needed
we provide that; if a woman needs psychiatric counseling we provide
that, too."
"We never charge and are totally non-judgmental," West said.
"We treat the whole person."
"Most of the people we serve are the working poor - the people
who earn too much to qualify for government programs but just can't
afford adequate medical, dental, psychiatric, and legal help."
A lot of senior citizens make use of the free clinic. "Medicare
is hopelessly inadequate," said West, whose clinic provides free
drugs to seniors. The new clinic, she said, "is a building especially
designed for us by the Los Angeles Community Design Center."
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