KC Care Health Center (The Westport Free Health Clinic)

Established in 1971 as the Westport Free Health Clinic, KC Care Health Clinic strives to provide promote health and wellness by offering services to area residents that include HIV prevention, behavioral health, primary care services, and dentistry. The clinic began with only volunteers and donations, operating out of the lobby of the Alcazar Hotel. Over the past fifty years, the clinic has grown to include full-time and part-time staff and significant grant funding.

Opening in 1971, KC Care operated as The Westport Free Health Clinic and operated from the lobby of the Alcazar Hotel. The organization provided free medical services and was funded entirely by donations and the work of volunteers. The clinic was founded by residents who mirrored the diversity of Kansas City, and their original charge made it clear that its mission was to serve all in need from students to the elderly. Reflecting the needs of the neighborhood and the era of their founding, clinic staff explicitly identified the needs of "hippies" who lived in this part of the city as central to their mission and adopted the motto "a healthy hippie is a happy hippie."[1]

After two years of operation, the organization received the donation of a house at 40th and Baltimore which the clinic utilized to provide both primary care and reproductive care. In the years that followed, dental students who volunteered their services and acquired the clinic's first dental chair to support the expansion of the clinic's mission to include oral care.

As the needs of the community changed in the 1980s, the clinic responded by providing services to those affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. The clinic was the first testing site in western Missouri to offer counseling, testing, and health services anonymously.

By 1993, the clinic received federal funding and included a staff of eight employees. In that year, the clinic moved to a building at 39th and Main Street. The clinic also became the lead Ryan White grantee in Kansas City and operated the most comprehensive system of health services related to HIV and AIDS in the area.

[1] History, KC Care Health Center. Accessed March 29th 2022. https://kccare.org/about/history/.

[2] KC Free Health Clinic Works to Meet Rising Health Care Needs. Ingram's. December 1st 2005.

[3] Stearns, Betty. The Westport Free Health Clinic. Westport. August 1st 1979. 3 - 4, 22.