The Vietnam War had just ended. Soldiers were coming home, some with sexually transmitted diseases resistant to antibiotics.
It was 1976. Gerald Ford was president. The recession meant gas shortages, rising prices and layoffs. People were losing their insurance and couldn’t afford healthcare.
So after a year of planning led by three people from the Conejo Valley Junior Women’s Club, a safety net medical and legal clinic opened in a rented doctor’s office in Thousand Oaks.
A hospital auxiliary group from Westlake Village chipped in to pay the rent. The Ventura County Health Department provided linens and laboratory services. Doctors, nurses and others volunteered to provide free care to people who couldn’t afford anything else.
The Conejo Free Clinic
was born. Well, kind of.
Unfounded concern emerged in corners of the Conejo Valley that the new clinic would offer fish bowls of condoms available for the taking and would provide abortions. The fear brought letters of protest and harassment that included sand in the gas tank of a car owned by the clinic board president, said Sharron Baird, who co-founded the clinic with Diane Boyd and the late Martha Desch. Baird served as the clinic’s executive director until 2009.
“They were constantly trying to shut us down,” Baird said of the early years, noting that leaders worried using “free clinic” would amplify the perceived link to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury and counterculture. So the clinic was dubbed Conejo Community Services Center.
A half-century later, the facility that ultimately became Conejo Free Clinic is still providing care to the rising number of people who have no health insurance or not enough.
On Oct. 18, clinic leaders will hold a fundraising event to commemorate the 50 years of care. Speakers will talk about a mission that hasn't changed much though new obstacles emerge.
“To provide quality, dignified and respectful care to anyone who walks through the door,” explained medical operations manager Kelsey Capper on a Tuesday as a 63-year-old veteran waited for care in an exam room.
Demand could snowball
Providers at the site on Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks give clinical examinations, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted disease, well-woman exams, laboratory tests and other care. Partnerships with specialists have brought free breast cancer surgeries, colonoscopies and skin cancer procedures.
Dental care and acupuncture are offered, too. People can consult with lawyers on the phone in a legal clinic.
Medical appointments should be made by phone. The site sees about a dozen patients a day but an expansion set to be completed next year will bring two more exam rooms to help meet rising demand.
Challenges facing the clinic include federal changes and cuts to Medi-Cal via President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation legislation known as the big beautiful bill. Rules that include new work-reporting requirements and more frequent eligibility checks are expected to leave about 15,000 fewer people on the government insurance program across the county next year.
It means more people will use free clinics, said faciility executive director Sarah Hawkins.
“We know it’s going to snowball as we go into 2027,” she said.
But as more people need care, some are reluctant to seek it because of fear sparked by rising immigration enforcement.
“People are delaying care,” Hawkins said. “People are coming to us sicker than they have before.”
The clinic operates on an annual budget of about $825,000. It relies on support from groups, including Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks, Sherwood Cares Foundation and Gold Coast Health Plan. Patients include an increasing number of people who have insurance, including limited Medicare benefits in certain instances, but still can't cover their medical costs, said Dr. Fred Dawson, longtime volunteer at the clinic.
Dawson, 77, served 48 years as the clinic's medical director until retiring from the post in April. He still serves on the facility's board.
“I’m a family doctor and this is my calling — to help people,” he said.
'Warm and welcoming'
On a Tuesday, Michael Tardif of Thousand Oaks laid in an exam room as acupuncturist Ilan Migdali inserted small needles into his arms, feet and face in treatment that is one of the new programs offered at the clinic.
Tardif is an Army veteran who started coming to the clinic three years when he was having trouble swallowing. He was diagnosed with a condition called dysphagia. The clinic connected him with a partnering specialist who provided free treatment in a procedure that stretched Tardif's esophagus.
Now, he comes to the clinic for medical care, dental work and acupuncture. He said the facility has restored his faith in healthcare.
“The V.A. is cold and hard. This is warm and welcoming,” he said. “Here, I’m not a Social Security number. I’m a person.”
The goal has always been to form a relationship with a person and not to just treat an illness, said Baird, the co-founder who noted there aren't many facilities that have survived 50 years.
“I’m really proud that it’s still standing and providing free services,” she said, briefly diving into political waters. “And I’m still ashamed that our country needs free clinics and that we don’t provide universal health care.”
The 50th anniversary event begins at 4 p.m. on Oct. 18 at The Gardens at Los Robles Greens, 299 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. For tickets and more information, go to www.conejofreeclinic.org. For medical appointments at the clinic, call 805-497-3575.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Conejo clinic started with sand in gas tank; at 50, it faces new tests
