Sara HeinÄmaa Toward a Phenomenology of Sexual Difference: Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Beauvoir. Lanham, Md., Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

The making of burnout

“…The free clinic was free not only in the monetary sense, but also in the sense that it was free in every way from establishment medicine: ‘no probing questions, no “morality trips”, no red tape, no files’ (Smith, Bentel and Schwartz, 1971: xiv). The Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic was the first of dozens of free clinics to be established across the country during the late 1960s and 1970s in cities such as Oakland, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York (Freudenberger, 1971: 121; Nelson, 2013; Weiss, 2006). As historian Gregory Weiss has noted, many who worked in these free clinics saw them as a ‘gateway to working for significant change in the overall health care system, so that their focus was on sociopolitical change as well as patient services’ (ibid.…”

“…1 Free health clinics, halfway houses, crisis hotlines and consciousness-raising groups proliferated in response to the perceived shortcomings of the medical and social establishments. 2 These ‘alternative’ institutions were premised on the idea that caring for ‘youth, minorities, women, and others pushed to the margins of the modern economy’ could be a path to both self-help and social change (Binkley, 2007: 82; Nelson, 2013; Weiss, 2006). As such, they attracted not only the sick, the needy and the displaced, but also many young, idealistic volunteers and professionals influenced by the counter-culture who wanted to help others and in so doing achieve a level of personal satisfaction.…”

Beyond Access

“…In addition to the social and cultural changes that characterized the 1960s and early 1970s, the idea of universal health care increasingly gained support in many American communities (Scott et al 2000; Weiss 2006). Free clinics cropped up across the nation, specifically in communities with a high percentage of racial and ethnic minorities, and in some areas were called “hippie” or “youth” clinics (Weiss 2006:25).…”

“…In addition to the social and cultural changes that characterized the 1960s and early 1970s, the idea of universal health care increasingly gained support in many American communities (Scott et al 2000; Weiss 2006). Free clinics cropped up across the nation, specifically in communities with a high percentage of racial and ethnic minorities, and in some areas were called “hippie” or “youth” clinics (Weiss 2006:25). These clinics were a result of local communities’ efforts to address “medical civil rights,” which first focused on issues of access and quality of care, and later evolved to focus on broader health inequities related to sex, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and SES (Morello-Frosch et al 2006).…”

“…Previous studies of free clinics in health services literature have focused on sociodemographic trends, including the diversity of the patient base in terms of educational attainment and employment status as well as the health status of patients (Cadzow, Servoss, and Fox 2007; Geller, Taylor, and Scott 2004; Keis et al 2004; Pizmony-Levy et al 2010). Other studies explored the history of the free clinics movement in the United States and examined organizational characteristics of free clinics (Darnell 2010; Hall 2011; Weiss 2006). Given the range of individuals who currently rely on free health care clinics as well as the varied nature of how clinics operate across the country, it is clear that the need for these clinics has not declined but indeed has expanded since their emergence (Cadzow, Fox, and Niescierenko 2006; Isaacs and Jellinek 2007).…”