About Rhode Island Free Clinic
Rhode Island Free Clinic mobilizes vital health resources statewide to treat Rhode Island’s uninsured, low-income adults – and provides patients with the most efficient and cost effective alternative to expensive emergency room and urgent care visits all in one setting.
Our Mission
Founded in 1998, our mission is to provide free, comprehensive medical care and preventive health services to adults in Rhode Island who cannot afford medical treatment or have no insurance, and to serve as an educational training site for aspiring health care professionals who receive mentorship from our board certified volunteer medical practitioners. Since opening Clinic doors in a small downtown storefront, the Clinic has grown to become a multi level, multi exam-room, award winning and nationally recognized free clinic, with our committed volunteers and partners providing culturally competent, quality care for the Ocean State’s medically uninsured adults.
Who We Are
Our Free Clinic in Providence, Rhode Island is a testament to the continuum of care that is accomplished when medical volunteers, community partners and individual supporters come together in the belief that everyone deserves access to healthcare, regardless of income or background.
With the volunteer medical talents of over 500 area physicians, nurses and specialists, and a dynamic team of AmeriCorps VISTA Members, our Free Clinic is able to provide an array of coordinated, comprehensive medical services to each individual patient, all in one setting. Our free health care services provide a whole-patient experience from free primary care to labs and diagnostics; life-saving prescription medicine; and specialty care such as free physical therapy and nutrition. Unlike visiting a walk-in clinic, urgent care clinic, or costly ER visit without insurance, we are a free medical home. Our highly trained and compassionate volunteer clinicians meet all patients’ needs from intake to follow up, including free wellness programs, free counseling, and general welfare navigation. We provide bi-lingual medical translation services as needed, with all healthcare services completely free of charge.
Our patients receive these free services because the community cares. Due to the generosity of our volunteer medical providers and community financial support, our Clinic provides culturally competent, quality care to the Ocean State’s medically uninsured adults.
Our committed volunteers and partners are a model in compassion and innovation. The Rhode Island Free Clinic’s continuum of care starts with serving the underserved – and continues full circle to provide real world medical training and workforce development for aspiring healthcare professionals, including the AmeriCorps VISTA program. Through our collaboration with local academic partners, we ensure high quality and groundbreaking care for our patients while our credentialed physicians offer support and mentorship to student interns, providing the skills necessary to earn medical certification and licensure.
Because of your support, we are able to offer a permanent medical home to serve the most vulnerable in our community, creating a healthier Rhode Island for all.
Why We’re Needed
Rhode Island Free Clinic’s growth over 27 years is a testament not only to a critical need in our community, but also to the incredible strength of our community. Many hard working adults lack access to health care or have no insurance in Rhode Island, despite recent advances in coverage protections. Across our state, over 24,000 Rhode Islanders still remain ineligible for healthcare benefits or cannot afford access. Within our Clinic, our volunteers provide a vital safety net for those who fall in the coverage gap, from hospitality and grocery store workers to landscapers and caregivers across the state. Free patient visits in our Clinic decrease unfunded, costly ER visits at local hospitals; keep workers in our community healthy and able to support their loved ones; and help lessen the degree of poverty faced across our state, leading to greater autonomy and the ability to hold a job and put food on the table. We believe that free healthcare is one of the first steps to eradicating systemic poverty, and with your support, we are committed to standing in the gap until everyone has access to the medical care they deserve.
Our Impact
With an annual budget of $1.6 million, Rhode Island Free Clinic effectively leverages over $6.2 million in additional in-kind health services and medical supplies to provide critical medical care to Rhode Island’s uninsured, low-income adults, with on-site specialties including free dental care, free gynecology, optometry, podiatry, and more.
- More than 1,400 uninsured, low-income and at-risk adults served statewide – and growing
- Over 5,600 patient visits and encounters in 2025.
- A volunteer base of 450+ physicians, nurses, dentists, specialists, and on-provider volunteers (medical recorders, medical interpreters, medical assistants, and patient service) mobilized each year
- $1.6 million budget with over $6.2 million leveraged In-Kind Services
