Harbor Community Clinic

Had to come here again to get a quick check up. New staff new doctors and new rooms. Much better than before. Wait is still pretty long but I’m thankful for the politeness.

Been going here for years. The staff & doctors are amazing, compassionate, on their job in getting /​giving the most of their time & skills when dealing with us patients that are irratiable & in pain. Whatever the wait time remember you don’t know how serious someone else case is to be handled with their care. They been here for a long time hope they continue to have great staff & doctors!!!

I’ve seen cleaner restrooms in highway rest areas.
I showed up 20 min early for my appt. 2 hours 30 minutes later still had not seen the doctor. Walked out.
Disgusting, filthy place and a waste of time.

Hour wait still haven’t seen anybody stay away horrible service seems their appointments don’t matter they take everyone on a walk in basis anyway very unprofessional not just medically but as a business in general

The wait is unreasonably long for starters. 2 ½ hours and only 6 people were waiting! Insane! Had to fill out a stack of papers then wait till everyone got called before me! Let me remind you my appointment was at 10:40 and I arrived 15 mins early. It’s now 12:40 and I’m still waiting in a empty waiting room! I got called at 12 to go give my weight and height and blood pressure! The lab area is really clean! This whole place is really clean especially for a clinic! 5 stars for that! But after that the nurse yelled for me to go see the doctor which after chasing her down the hall way the doctor said «umm can you call Jen first just let her wait» umm hello? I’m sick lady all I’ve been doing is waiting. But I didn’t say anything just sat down like a lil b. (just got called FINALLY) … So about 40 mins later the nurse screamed my name from down the hall and I ran to her! Waited for the doctor to come. She asked what I was there for. Stopped me saying she couldn’t go through all that stuff that day! I was already mad at her for taking that other lady before me however all in all she was really nice! I wish they did blood work cause I basically paided money to have someone listen to my heart and say «well it could be this so let me give u meds and we’ll see what’s up»! Ugh I need to sign up for healthy way already!

Why do we volunteer?
I don’t have an answer to that profound question. Everyone who volunteers does it for their own reason. Mine started off selfishly enough. My chosen profession would benefit from a knowledge of drugs and so I came to volunteer as an alternate pharmacist at the Harbor Free Clinic. I soon found out that once I made the dive into that rabbit hole, it would be difficult to back out. It turned out that my «alternate» position was, for the most part, 100% as the pharmacist. I was married at the time, going to school at night and volunteering at the free clinic a couple nights a week and I did that for 7 years. In those seven years, I saw things that might stun Mr and Mrs Conservative down in the OC… or maybe it wouldn’t. That would depend on how much they knew about their little girl. When you distribute rubbers, IUDs or birth-​control pills to little girls, in some cases, 12 year olds… it can be a very personal and emotional thing. I had to keep reminding myself that we could not and should not concern ourselves with age. If these children were sexually active and runaway or poor or couldn’t tell their parents for one reason or the other, they still needed to be treated. Sad as that sounds, we would treat them without questions for many health concerns. Our approach was to treat and educate. Often we were successful, sometimes we weren’t.
Like I said, I started off selfishly. My job and I would benefit from the knowledge I gained. But then it got to the point where there was no more for my job or me to gain… except that I’d become important to the patients, the other volunteers and to the clinic. I had gradually succumbed to an attraction in helping others less fortunate than me. My hubbie didn’t get this right away and we had some tiffs about where all our time was going but after getting my degree, I could spend more time with him… and the clinic.
Eventually my job took me out of the area and I had to pass my duties on to another volunteer. I think of those giving people all the time and will always treasure the moments I had at this wonderful facility. I still volunteer in many other activities but not at the clinic any more. At this stage in my life, I couldn’t provide BC pills to an 11 or 12 year old without hunting down the parents and asking if they know where the hell their precious little girl is! Now, I leave that for the more patient of us and thankfully, there are those or I’d be doin’ time in the big house, eating prison food. But to put in just a little bit of time to help another human being is priceless… and so vitally needed in this world. And so, on this 1^st day of 2008, I raise my glass to the volunteer doctors, nurses, therapists, psychologists, pharmacists and admin staff of the LA Harbor Free Clinic.