Public Health – Seattle & King County is proud to be one of over 100 organizations that participated in the 2018 Seattle/King County Clinic. Over four days in September, more than 3,500 people received free medical, dental, and vision care there, waiting in line for long hours, even overnight, at KeyArena.
For the third year, a team of artists interviewed patients to better understand the circumstances that brought patients to the SKC Clinic. This year, they also interviewed some of the thousands of volunteers that made the SKC Clinic possible. We hope the resulting stories will stimulate conversations about the struggles people face with healthcare every day and the need for solutions so that everyone can get the healthcare they need.
We will be sharing the comics from this project in three parts over the coming weeks. This week, we feature stories from the patients. Next week, we’ll share stories from the volunteers.
Thanks to the Seattle Center, the Seattle Center Foundation, and Public Health—Seattle & King County for support of this comics journalism project. Special thanks to the artists who volunteered their time and to all the patients and volunteers who shared their stories with us.
More on the Seattle/King County Clinic at seattlecenter.org/skcclinic
Originally posted on January 25, 2019.
Before today I hadn’t heard of this clinic, but I am very impressed! I think it is incredible that so many volunteers get together and make this clinic possible for the more than 3,500 people that use the clinic each year. This article is a really cool way to understand people from diverse backgrounds and reduce stigma about why people don’t seek treatment. All of these stories tell you something that supports the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. For instance, Drake, Fred and Ben look like normal guys, who may be seen as lazy for not regularly receiving medical treatment. However, Fred and Ben had unexpected circumstances which forced them out of work, and Drake lost his financial medical support due to missing “a hoop” in our healthcare system. All of these men are in need of medical treatment due to circumstances they cannot quite control, and this clinic allows them to get that treatment no questions asked. The artists who created these comic strips are very talented and I am looking forward to next weeks article from the perspectives of the volunteers!
Thank you, Anna. We really wanted to convey the diversity of circumstances that bring people to the clinic and how many obstacles there are for people to get healthcare. I’m glad that came across!
Great to see the participation of visual artists to support the awareness of this important clinic. Many artists are surely also in need of this opportunity for medical/dental care. Let’s envision also ways that performing artists can become involved in spreading the word. Our community is blessed with so many fine choreographers, dancers, composers, musicians, singers, writers, actors, directors, designers and all the unsung heroes in tech, admin, marketing/development, not to mention the VOLUNTEERS!