City of Berkeley Public Health Clinic

Very rude lady working the customer service desk. I thought I was being paranoid but I watched how she interacted with other patients coming in. This placed was referred by my new employer very bad experience :(.

I know they help do good work, but that doesn’t make them good people. I called about a TB test for school and they told me their walk in hours, great do I need to bring anything. No. Cool. I build my morning around my appt as anyone would and I go in fill in their paperwork, read the TB follow up sheet that says it needs to be done in 72 hours on Thursday. OK didn’t know that it was a double appt deal but I can make room on Thursday.
I get called into the room where the P.A. already seems less than pleased and while all the material are out to give me the shot the dialogue goes something like this:
P.A.: Will you be able to be here on Thursday so we can do the reading.
Me: Sure, I’m working till about 4 I can be in around 4:30, 5.“
P.A.: Ummm… No.
Me: okaaay, well I don’t have to be in till 11:15 so how about in the morning before that.
P.A. Ummm, No, that doesn’t work for me.
Me: Ok so why don’t you tell me what times ARE my options and we can work around that.
At this point we are both unhappy. Turns out she wouldn’t be in until about ONE and would be gone by FOUR. This would have been good information to be told over the phone if one were to call in about TB testing. Then to just be told NO, NO, NO, when you’re trying to negotiate a necessary paperwork requirement, is just plain frustrating.
When you’re in a clinic waiting to have a syringe placed into your skin for a legitimate and required test you would hope that the person giving it to you would carry a themselves a bit more responsibly. It all ended with her giving me papers of other clinics THAT I COULD CALL to see if they would do the Thursday reading for me, turned out NO PM clinics that were open yet, which she told me after I had called but she let me call them all anyway as she just stared at me from her chair, letting me waste both of our time.
In addition while I was in the waiting room, the front desk was handling walk-​ins for different services VERY indiscreetly. I should have seen the signs, very unprofessional.
If I had been given the proper information upfront in the first place, it would have saved a lot of time and trouble on trying to find a more available place with hours that acknowledge the work day for the most part. I know that as a clinic they DO help people but part of that is the respectful treatment of individuals.
**Womens Clinic on Ellsworth is phenomenal AND professional! I’ve seen men there too so if you need a quick TB test our really any other health assistance go there. The RN there was experienced and dignified. They do have students but she was the one who helped me**

For those in the education business, you know there’s no better place to get your TB screening. So easy… system is very well-​done. Go in Tuesday during their morning or afternoon hours (see their website), they stick your arm with a needle, give you a cotton ball to squeeze, and you’re on your way. I’ve never had to wait more than 20ish minutes for my walk-​in turn. Come back Thursday, grab a yellow number they’ve set out on the counter, wait for your number to be called, and then they will «read» your arm and have your clearance paper all ready for you (hopefully!). For this I’ve never waited more than 10 minutes. Sliding scale so you can basically pay as little as around $ 6 I believe. I’m a fan!

I’d been stressing for months about where to go for a birth control prescription refill /​pap smear. I moved to California from West Virginia and my prescription had recently run out, but I don’t have insurance anymore (I’m self-​employed). I really just wanted it to be easy to get birth control and move on with my life.
I found the Berkeley Public Health Clinic online when I was searching for gynecologists, and I’m so glad I did — it was a huge relief to get things taken care of in a nice, easy way for once.
I had an appointment at 9 a.m. and was out the door by 10:30 (I had to fill out preliminary paperwork, but didn’t have to actually wait very long at all). They didn’t charge me anything, and were extremely nice. I didn’t have any previous medical records or prescriptions with me, but the doctor listened to my situation and gave me 3 months of birth control to last until I could schedule another appointment with them for a pap smear and full prescription refill. I was pretty amazed, since previous doctors always made a huge deal about getting more pills.
I can’t really praise this place enough — they’re helping so many women (and men) who wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise!

For a grad student with no health insurance this place together with the Family Pact program is a life saver.
I’ve been here twice; once for a routine checkup and again for a colposcopy/​biopsy. I’ve never waited more than 45 minutes, which you can’t say for ANY Planned Parenthood in the Bay area. I once accompanied a friend to the MacArthur Planned Parenthood where she was finally seen at 2pm for a 10am appointment, and we arrived at 9.
The woman who’s seen me at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic is named Carol (I think). I don’t know what level of training she has or if she’s a real nurse or what… there is no abbreviated title after her name on her name tag. She has a leg brace, a terrible limp and an armband tattoo, no fancy clothes or makeup. She may have been snatched off the street for all I know, but she’s just as good of a gynocologist as the fancy, perfumed doctors I used to see back home when I actually had insurance. It helps that she’s personable and informal, necessary qualities during the somewhat uncomfortable and possibly horrifying procedures that go on here. Oh, and she gave me a free extra Plan B packet «for later, in case I ended up needing one» the first time I visited!
The office staff have been understanding, friendly and discrete. Yeah, the place is kind of old, needs updates, organization, technology, maybe a paint job, etc., but you get what you pay for and this is free healthcare, my friends. I highly suggest making an appointment if you can, as with any clinic, and getting there early.
They do what the can with the resources they have, and I’ll be going back until CA Family Pact kicks me out whenever I begin generating income.

so maybe its mean to rate them based on this, but heres my story…
after calling several places to figure out my birth control situation (family pact card expired but i had a prescription for the birth control and couldnt afford the $ 70/​month for it), i finally get someone on the line here.
do i need an appt on saturday? no, walk in.
can i renew my family pact card with you? yes.
do i need to bring anything? no.
so after a 30-​min bus ride, i get in there and they ask if ive been seen there before. no i have not. so they say they cannot renew my family pact card (and therefore i cannot get my birth control refilled). two women have to get involved (the first one was rude, btw). they show me their hours: sat til 2:30p. well, there is plenty of time, right? no. they only accept a certain amount of walk-​ins… yet they were clearly NOT busy. no one was there.
i explain to the woman that ive had SUCH a hard time anytime that i have tried renewing my birth control and i hate going off it, then on it, then off it. i told her if i wasnt seen today or could renew my card, i would go off it and stay off it and have tons of babies for the state to deal with. jk. bad joke.
the woman says that i have to be seen at a public health institution, like planned parenthood, in order to renew my family pact.
great, i say, ive been to them, so can i get it renewed?
yes.
okay, so where is the paperwork?
no, you have to be seen by a public health institution…
i tell her that i HAVE been seen at a public health institution and i just need to renew my card in order to pick up my birth control and can i please just fill out the stupid form and get on my merry way?
she says, yes, you can renew it as long as youve been to a public health institution…
etc etc back and forth. basically, in order to get a family pact renewal from them, i would have to be seen by them and they had no appointments or walk-​ins available until next week and none on the following saturday.
it would have been wonderfullll if the woman who i originally spoke with on the phone had first asked, have you been seen at this location before? that would have saved me an afternoon and i could have easily made it to planned parenthood and not stressed about going off birth control.
miscommunication is super annoying, especially when meds are involved.

Yeah it’s the safety net clinic, but it’s also got some of the coolest medical providers anywhere. They take good care of your coochie, ding-​a-​ling, and surrounding areas.

As someone who is not employed full time and therefor does not have health insurance, this place helped me out for woman matters.
Seriously, without health insurance, what woman would go get a pap smear once a year, or ever?
Everything about this place is online, though they encourage you to come in or call for more information. The people here are discrete, very nice and helpful, they don’t judge you and it appears like they’ve seen alot. But they are not jaded. They are a hell of a lot nicer than the social workers at the county social services center, and those people are over it. The social services center people are SO over it they don’t speak clearly. Instead they slur out these demands that no one can understand. I digress.
When I came here to get a checkup in all matters female, the counselor spoke to me efficiently and directly, the paper work was taken care of really quickly (it’s on a sliding scale), the nurse was soothing and not too talkative but still answered my questions. I got what I came for and the whole experience was pain free. I even got a prescription medication program for women matters (but not for general medicine like allergies). It’s a very specific demographic that they cater to and an even more specific area of that demographic. But an important one nonetheless.
It is important to keep up ones health and places like this make it possible for people that don’t have insurance. They have confidentiality agreements in case you don’t want your parents to know or whoever. They do screenings for STDs and such but seem to be better staffed than Berkeley Free Clinic. I got the impression that Berkeley Free Clinic was overworked and under staffed.
I highly recommend this place and commend the staff for everything that they do.