Origins of Redwoods Rural Health Center in Humboldt Counterculture History–Rural Reverberations

We, the dedicated crew at the Humboldt Area Peoples Archive (HAPA), are delighted to offer this regular installment in the pages – yes, pages! – of Redheaded Blackbelt, based on materials exclusive to our collections, and our research farther afield. For more information about HAPA please check out our website.

1979 RRHC boogie fundraiser. Can you name any of those pictured? [Photo by Suzelle, Courtesy of HAPA] 

by Scott Holmquist, Founder, Humboldt Area Peoples Archive

In 1974 a group of poor hippie women organized to establish a clinic that would serve their health needs after several episodes of poor treatment at the Garberville hospital. Soon they rented the back room of the Redway laundromat and by the mid 1980s they built the modern clinic residents of the region know well. To spread word of their clinic, Star Root gave the clinic space for the following article in April 1977.

Star Root article, April 1977 (courtesy of HAPA)

“By now, you probably know that the Redwoods Rural Health Center sits across from the Redway Elementary School on Empire Drive and that it has clinics on Wednesday and Thursday. But you may not know much more about who we are. This will tell you some of it, and if you want to know more, come by and look us over from any Monday to any Friday.

“As a health center, we hope to do more than just “repair work.” We want to look at the life habits that may be affecting people’s overall health and deal with those, as well as with the immediate problem. On the initial clinic appointment, people fill out comprehensive (yes, comprehensive!) forms telling us if they smoke, drink, relax, meditate, get exercise, have headaches, feel tired, etc. They meet with one of our health workers to have a blood pressure reading, to check pulse and temperature and to talk a t length about the reasons for coming in. Perhaps, they will be directed to the lab for some simple health checks, and most likely they will talk to the nutrition technician. Through all these extras, we get a fuller picture of how you live, and can give you a fuller picture of why you’re sick.

“We want patients to participate in their own healing and to learn whatever they can when they come to us. People should feel free to have at their charts, to ask questions, to help make decisions about cures or suggest healing procedures. A woman having an annual exam is given fifteen minutes of training in how to examine her breasts and uses a mirror to ‘view her own cervix; the women in our pregnancy workshop learn yoga exercises, breathing techniques and nutrition. We want people to participate, too, in figuring out how we run by feeding the suggestion box, coming to the annual community meetings or a board meeting, or just expressing on the spot feelings to whoever is handy.

“By trying to look at the whole person, not just the wart on the nose, we may take off from “standard” medicine, but in other ways our practices are traditional ones. Partly this is because we do have reasonable faith in lab tests, antibiotics and some of the equipment and pills that are around. In part, this is because our own knowledge is limited in, say, herbal cures, and we don’t want to experiment on our patients. In part, this is because we are wary of legalities, particularly when established folks – Garberville Medical Center being first on the list – are working hard to obstruct our funding and bring us down. Given the limits, though, we want to give people the space to explore some of the alternatives/ We’ve talked of hiring a masseuse and an acupuncturist when we find certified people and the money. We do want to know about qualified people i n the community with medical skills. And we have been offering, and will offer, workshops. such as the one on massage and touch that is happening on an upcoming weekend.

Star Root Ad (courtesy of HAPA)

“As our feet settle more firmly on the ground, we hope to give more to the community. Believing in reciprocity, we hope to get things back. In a lot of cases, we already have – lumber from McKees, a pillow, & good criticism, the good will of the person who doesn’t try to crash our boogie, the very essential help of the volunteers who help us run the show. What do we want from you? On the most simple level, you can come on time to an appointment. And you can call if you can’t make it. When we give you an hour’s time for a careful exam. it hurts if you don’t come, much more than it would if we’d allotted a seven minute slot. These simple things are really important to us. If you want to go on from there, just ask.”

NOTE: Why more clips from old newspapers? Because we’re encouraging you to check out our exhibit of Humboldt counterculture press at the Clarke Museum. Learn more at humboldtareaarchive.org.