Eugene, Oregon, 2020 update: 24 years after publishing this article, White Bird Clinic's much-expanded and successful emergency service CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is getting national attention for its effective and nurturing approach to resolving tough human situations. Healthcare in the US is dismal, and community clinics were meant to address healthcare needs directly. But White Bird, like many community-based clinics, broadened their services to meet the requirements of the times. -- GB By Marc Bouvier RAIN, volume XV number 1 Summer 1996 American politicians need to keep working on national
health care. Forty million Americans, one-third of them
children, have no health insurance and this number is
increasing by more than a million each year. Further, the
inefficiency in the health care industry results in nearly a
quarter of the cost going to administration. Even if
Congress agreed tomorrow to create a complete health care
system, one where no one would be neglected, it would take
years to implement. But it's not impossible. A small clinic
in Oregon has demonstrated for twenty-five years that low
cost, high-quality health care can be made available to even
the most economically disenfranchised. White Bird Clinic opened in February, 1970 when two
University of Oregon graduate psychology students saw
people on the streets of Eugene who needed mental and
medical care. By the end of the first year, with close to 100
volunteers and a small paid staff, they created a crisis line,
a drop-in center for people who had bad drug experiences,
and a clinic where doctors saw walk-ins once a week. White Bird began like many other free clinics founded
around the nation during the late '60s and early '70s. Many
of these clinics have folded, others have ceased to rely on
volunteers, and some, like the famed Haight Ashbury clinic,
have survived by providing very specialized services. Few
remaining clinics manage the diversity of services that
White Bird does. White Bird offers free 24-hour crisis intervention
counseling, and help in finding the appropriate assistance
from the wide variety of agencies and programs in the
County. White Bird has become known in the community
for providing low-cost and free medical treatment, including exams, medication and lab testing. The clinic also was
the first to offer anonymous AIDS testing in the County. In
an effort to improve services for lower income residents,
White Bird has opened a new, inexpensive dental treatment
center. Low-cost counseling is available through White Bird
for individuals and couples. Recently the agency has begun
an outpatient chemical dependency program that includes
both acupuncture treatments and counseling sessions. Many
of the people who provide White Bird's services are
volunteers who have been trained in White Bird's own
School of Human Service. Nearly everyone involved with White Bird spends time
on the crisis line. Most new trainees tend to want to solve
the caller's problem. Although they may resolve the
immediate issue, they may not address what put the caller
in crisis. One White Bird trainer says, "We want our
volunteers to learn that it's not enough to just patch a
person up and send them back out. We have to assist each
person calling to develop tools to deal with the problem in
its larger context." Beyond this basic philosophy, the counseling or
medical approach is as unique as the particular practitioner.
White Bird has conventional and naturopathic physicians on
staff and some do nutrition counseling. Some counselors
apply rather
more esoteric
practices such
as tarot or
astrology in
their work. Most are political activists, in that they
recognize how socio-cultural issues relate to
individual troubles. It's a continual challenge,
but this diverse group of 250 volunteers and
the small paid staff continue to work together
as a collective. Although White Bird began with a more
conventional hierarchical structure, during all
these years of consensus decision-making the
members don't recall any serious deadlock.
That's because collective members allow
themselves to fully discuss issues, taking the
necessary hours to decide as a group whether
to serve coffee or apply for a particular grant. For example, a few members wanted a
Christmas tree for the lobby. Some believed
that in a secular institution, religious symbols
had no place. Those involved compromised by
putting up a small tree with no religious
symbols and a sign that said the tree was not a
religious symbol. In many large, hierarchical organizations,
employees lack negotiation skills to resolve
disputes amongst themselves. They often find
themselves calling upon a supervisor for
guidance. At White Bird everyone is urged to
work with each other to settle disagreements
and training is provided to assist this process.
If one-to-one discussions do not work, disputers may meet with a facilitator. Beyond that, a
dispute may go to the departments involved,
then a community meeting, or at last resort the
board of directors. Most problems, however,
are quickly resolved in the first or second step, now that there are many old-timers experienced in
settling issues. During all these years of consensus decision-making, members don't recall any serious deadlock Unfortunately, despite its success, White Bird
has occasionally suffered because of its collective
status. One of the United States' largest and most
well-known charitable agencies, United Way,
refused to fund White Bird for years because it
wanted a single authority figure to deal with.
White Bird members would respond, "Well, we
have a Wednesday evening meeting you can
attend." United Way finally dropped its requirement because of White Bird's excellent reputation
and funded the medical clinic, one of the least
controversial of White Bird's programs, and
eventually it gave additional funding. Despite its counterculture origins, White Bird
is increasingly gaining recognition from local
government officials and other human service
agencies because of their good quality work with
difficult clients. Also, having trained a couple thousand
people in its school, nearly three quarters of all local social
service providers employ former White Bird volunteers or
staff members. Many are impressed that White Bird also provides
medical care in such
diverse environments as
rock concerts, university
football games and the
Oregon Country Fair
(See RAIN, Volume 14,
No.3). White Bird is
working with an increasing number of unemployed and homeless
people, who are often
economic refugees from
the declining timber
industry. White Bird continues to survive financially
through local government contracts, small
client fees, and a little bit
of luck. Because it also
continues to rely on a
large volunteer staff,
only 10% of White
Bird's budget goes to administration. Further, in 1980,
the members decided that future
funding must be from an ethical
source and for the kind of
activities that they could all
agree the collective should
provide. White Bird has the good
fortune of owning some of the
buildings it uses. The original
founders had the foresight to buy
the present property with its two
buildings when the agency was
barely a year old. The arrangement at the time of purchase was
that White Bird would make
payments for seven years, then
one large balloon payment. In a
story fit for fiction, the widow
who owned the property refinanced White Bird's mortgage to
spite the real estate group that
wouldn't return her calls when she first
wanted to sell the property in the thirties. Longtime collective member Bob
Dritz believes that White Bird continues to
thrive because of such luck, and because it
has continued to adapt to changing times.
But most significantly, White Bird thrives
because of the dedication and insights of
the ever-changing volunteers. "Old time
radicals can become the status quo," he
warns. For those who want to repeat what
White Bird has done in their community,
Dritz recommends "Look at what's around
you. We designed the clinic around the
people, rather than creating a model clinic
and putting it around the people. It isn't a
chain store." In an era when most conventional medical and mental health practices
remain expensive and lacking in individualized care, White Bird is a beautiful and
viable alternative, rooted firmly in an
understanding of its local community. White Bird Clinic's main offices are
located at 341 East 12th A venue, Eugene,
Oregon 97401. (505) 342-8255. Marc
Bouvier is a community
activist, non-profit consultant, chemical dependency counselor, and clinical social worker / therapist, based in Eugene, Oregon.  The White Bird pavilion at the Oregon Country Fair in 2020. The fair is closed in the year of the pandemic. |  White Bird's CAHOOTS van workers can provide transport to detox and referrals, on-the-spot counseling, and help to domestic violence victims after the perpetrator has been removed by the police.     Beautiful Clinic buildings provide space for the
outpatient drug treatment
program and case management offices for the homeless
program.   White Bird's low-income dental clinic at 1400 Mill Street.  The roads near the street clinic are lined with majestic old trees, with bike and bus routes that provide access to a diversity of clientele. |
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