History
The root of Northwest Human Services is the Crisis & Information Hotline created by the legendary Oregon Governor Tom McCall in 1970, which aimed to provide assistance to alienated street youth. However, it was in the following year that Northwest Human Service was officially born.
In the summer of 1971 two UCLA medical students arrived in Salem on an internship program with Marion County Health Department. Appalled with the insufficient health care services available to low-income and homeless population, Phil Yule and Paul Kaplan, the two young medical students, requested the support of Marion County Health Department to open a clinic to serve the local disadvantaged population. With the department’s blessings and support, they opened The Cry of Love Free Clinic, named after an album by the popular musician Jimi Hendrix.
In 1979 The Cry of Love Free Clinic became the West Bank Health
Network before turning into the West Salem Clinic, as it is known
today. But it was not until 1982 that Northwest Human Services emerged
as a well-established organization moving away from its counter-culture
image, though the original mission to serve underprivileged citizens
with respect and compassion remains as strong as it has ever been.
With its new professional image, Northwest Human Services strengthened
its ties with other social services agencies while adding new important
programs to its line of services:
- 1982 - HOST (Homes Offering
Shelter to Teens) Youth & Family Program provides shelter
and supportive services for runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It offers temporary shelter, crisis
intervention, counseling, family mediation, parent education,
family life skills
- 1987 – HOAP is the
acronym for Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program. It is the
only full-service program for chronic mentally ill homeless adults
in the Mid-Willamette Valley. In addition to outreach and advocacy,
HOAP offers therapeutic and an array of support services to the
homeless population
- 2002 – Total Health
Community Clinic opens in Monmouth to meet the growing
need for affordable health care in Polk County. Offering a full
range of primary care services, the clinic recorded more than
10,000 patient visits during the first year of operation
NOTE: For more detailed information about how Northwest Human Services came into being, read the article Cry of Love echoes through clinic (PDF) by NWHS Community Relations & Development Director, Sebastian de Assis.
