The LifeLong Clinic (TLC)

• Note: there is a facility with a similar name LifeLong Medical Center on Sacramento in Berkeley

Volunteer opportunites at the LifeLong Clinic

Website about volunteering at TLC: http://www.tlc-volunteers.org

Re: Volunteer Opportunities for Teens (Dec 2003)
I am the coordinator of a clinic here in Berkeley called The LifeLong Clinic (TLC). The clinic is just a few blocks from Berkeley High at the Herrick campus of Alta Bates Hospital. It is a clinic for uninsured patients who need urgent care. It runs Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings and is staffed entirely by volunteers (doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, lab techs, psychologists, medical assistants and clerical workers. ) We see about 40 uninsured patients a week - many homeless, or working families who cannot afford insurance. While I'm looking for volunteers in all these areas, I have had very wonderful student volunteers from Berkeley High who have had extremely responsible positions and have really helped with the success of the clinic. The clinic has been running for a year and a half and the students have been here from the beginning, but are now headed off to college. The job includes a lot of patient contact, some paper work and some computer work. There is a large staff of volunteers including many pre-med students from Cal. It's a very interesting, and sometimes exciting and fun place to work. It's also a very serious way to make a difference in this community by helping people who are sick and have a hard time finding health care. The clinic is run by LifeLong Medical Care and supported by the City of Berkeley Public Health Department, The UC Berkeley school of Public Health, the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association, Alta Bates Hospital, Kaiser Hospital, and the Alameda Alliance for Health.

If there is a way for students or anyone else, to receive this information, I would be grateful! Interested people can get in touch with me at the information listed below. Thank you so much for your help in this matter.

Yolanda Gamble
TLC Coordinator

December 2003 Update:
The current director is Magdalen Barton, and volunteer information can be found here: http://www.tlc-volunteers.org