About Ithaca Free Clinic

After about 8 years of saving membership contributions and donations, and another year of intensive planning by a group of very hard working volunteers, the Ithaca Health Alliance opened Ithaca Free Clinic on January 23, 2006. Simply opening our doors to patients in need of our services fulfilled a dream held by IHA since the organization was founded; since then, the free clinic has exceeded all our best expectations.

In its first year of operations in 2006, Ithaca Free Clinic provided services through 850 patient visits, representing about 600 patients. In 2007, professional volunteers at IFC completed 1,880 patient visits, of which about half were repeat visits by patients in need of ongoing care. In 2008, IFC volunteers completed 2,091 patient visits. We now project that we will see at least 13% growth in our patient base at the Clinic each year. This growing demand demonstrates that we are providing services needed in our community, that the clinic is becoming better known by those who need us, and that we still have a lot of work to do to meet the need we hope to address.

Thomas Hoebbel Photography

The growing healthcare crisis in our country is a well-known fact. Forty five million Americans under the age of 65 lack health insurance, with 80% of them coming from working families. In Tompkins County, an estimated 13,000 residents lack health insurance. This is not just an abstract number. As one Ithaca Health Alliance member and volunteer put it: "Most of us who are involved in this organization do this work because we have no place else to go for health care. The rest may have some sort of insurance, now, but realize the hard reality that a lot of other people face when it comes to care. Together, we're doing something about it."

While Tompkins County benefits from a top-notch medical establishment, a vibrant complementary / alternative health practitioner community, and a first-rate local hospital, for many who live here, healthcare is increasingly inaccessible and unaffordable.

Although the Ithaca Free Clinic clearly is no substitute for fundamental healthcare reform, it is a community-focused effort to improve the health care crisis facing so many of our neighbors. It is a fulfillment of the vision behind the Ithaca Health Alliance: that working together as community members, we can create local solutions to provide necessary services to each other, without waiting passively for the benevolence of "someone, elsewhere" to provide services for us.

ABOUT Ithaca Free Clinic: The Ithaca Free Clinic is a project of the Ithaca Health Alliance. Ithaca Free Clinic provides healthcare to the underserved people of Tompkins County – those with no health insurance, and those who do not have insurance coverage for complementary / alternative medicine and cannot afford to pay full price for those services. Our vision is to integrate “Mainstream Western” medicine with holistic / complementary / alternative medicine to best serve each individual client. Startup funding for the IFC was created through savings from Ithaca Health Alliance membership contributions over nine years of preparation. Fuelled by further memberships, donations, and the generous work of a cadre of volunteers, the free clinic is becoming a many-faceted health & wellness center for our region. To learn more about the services IFC offers, please click here.

Who We Serve
The Ithaca Free Clinic serves anyone who walks through our door and is sick or in need.
We serve people of all ages - young, old and in between.
Our purpose is the prevention and treatment of illness.
No one will be turned away or refused healthcare services at our clinic.

Our primary goal is to provide people with direct access to healthcare, free of charge. Our visitors will be evaluated and treated on site within our available means. If we cannot directly provide the healthcare service that is needed, we do our best to network with other healthcare providers or facilities in association with our clinic, and to advise patients about the probable costs of some referrals.

Our secondary goal is to provide people with tools and information that facilitate healthcare services that may more efficiently take care of their health needs. Examples of this are state programs such as Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus and Total Care Medicaid, or local programs such as the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

If people choose to take advantage of available health service programs, we'll provide direct assistance in navigating these programs. We will also provide help to mediate individual problems that obstruct healthcare access in our community with problem solving strategies. The object is to bridge the gap between those in need with those who can help.

Although we will not refuse anyone healthcare services on their first visit, we will refer people who have health insurance coverage (including Medicare/Medicaid) to providers accepting their insurance, allowing our clinic to be used for those in need. If patients choose, they can help out by volunteering at the clinic or by making a contribution of any amount to one of our anonymous donation baskets at the clinic. Donations are not required; our services are all completely free.