Seattle/King County Clinic returns next month

Seattle/King County Clinic organizers and volunteers are planning to serve more than 750 patients daily during next month’s four-day event.

The clinic, which offers free medical, dental and eye care services for those in need, was pushed from last fall to Feb. 13-16 due to the need to relocate because of the Seattle Center arena rebuild. The clinic had operated out of the arena since 2014.

Fisher Pavilion at Second Avenue North and Thomas Street will be where patients can receive admission tickets starting at 5 a.m. Clinic doors open at 6:30 a.m. Patients do not need to provide identification or proof of immigration status, nor do they need to provide documentation to prove a financial hardship, in order to receive services. People also don't have to live in King County to attend the clinic.

Seattle/King County Clinic coordinator Don Nunn tells Queen Anne News there will be multiple spaces used at Seattle Center for this year’s clinic, including McCaw Hall, Exhibition Hall and Cornish Playhouse. Free parking will be available for patients and volunteers at the Mercer Street Garage. While treatment spaces had to be adjusted with the one-time facilities, Nunn said the goal remains to serve as many patients as possible.

More than 100 volunteer team leaders met on Jan. 11 for orientation, which included learning new clinic processes and procedures, Nunn said.

The clinic reports providing $17 million in direct services to 20,000 patients over the past five years.

There will be more than 800 volunteers at the clinic each day, about evenly split between healthcare professionals and general support. There will be more than 80 dental operatories, 10 vision lanes and 1,000 pairs of prescription glasses, and more than 40 medical treatment spaces.

Patients are treated on a first-come, first-served basis, and interpretation services will be available. People will not be able to receive dental and eye care in one day, but can return another day for one of those services.

More information is available at seattlecenter.org/patients.