Lyon-Martin Health Services
About the Organization
Founded in 1979, Lyon-Martin Health Services (LMHS) is a 501(c)3 Federally Qualified Health Center in San Francisco that has a 30-year history of providing culturally competent health care in a sensitive and caring environment. Lyon-Martin began as the only clinic in the world specifically for lesbians; the clinic has evolved to now serve a unique blend of underserved women, lesbians, and transgender patients and is a nationally recognized model for serving these communities. The clinic will care for 3000 patients this year: 77% are uninsured; 70% have incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line; 8% are homeless; and 43% are people of color (12% Latina, 7% AA, 9% API, 6% multiracial, 8% other, 1% Native American). Currently, 52% are lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LBT) people who often avoid health care for fear of discrimination.
About the Opportunity
We need a photographer to create a photo montage of our clinic, staff, board, and clients. To tell a story of survival. Lyon-Martin’s board of directors had planned to immediately close the clinic in January of 2011 due to significant financial challenges, including the accrual of over one million dollars of debt by the previous management. An extraordinary groundswell of grassroots community support enabled the clinic to continue seeing patients but is insufficient to keep the clinic open over time. Because the clinic has evolved since it's founding, many people have inaccurate understanding of what the clinic looks like and who it serves. As we take potential major donors through the clinic we realize that they're being there, seeing the poverty of our patients, the way the clinic is set up, the diversity of the staff/board has a powerful impact on them. Photos could tell our story.
