Menlo Park VA Hospital & Arbor Free Clinic

My family friend recommended me to come here and the staff is very nice and knowledgeable! The Students and doctors from Stanford volunteer every weekend to help low income, uninsured patients with their medical problems. They also have many specialty clinics.

This place is awesome! Stanford Med school has 2 free clinics: one in Menlo park and one in downtown SJ. I really appreciate the Stanford students, staff, and physicians getting together every weekend to provide free health care to the community.
I am writing on behalf of my grandparents. This review is more or less the same for the other free clinic run by Stanford Med School. My family has pretty good PPO insurance, but because my grandparents are visiting on a 6 month visa from China, our insurance doesn’t cover them. Due to their various medical conditions, it was tough finding a place for them to be seen by a doctor.
Arbor free clinic is absolutely free which is definitely a plus. My grandparents told me that they had a very good time here. The Stanford Physicians were very knowledge and the staff were all very war and friendly.
Definitely recommended!

I showed up on Sunday at 8:15. Said doors open at 9 am. No one even showed up all day. No signs saying closed. Nothing. It was ridiculous.

A great group of people that work with an entire team focusing on a full spectrum care. The VA Palo Alto, San Francisco and Menlo Park have been superb to me as well as many friends.

Losing my job, not being able to afford COBRA, and being denied individual insurance all worked together to force me to look at other options. When I thought of free clinics, my mind’s eye conjured up images of crowded rooms with hard chairs non-​existent staff, and loads of smelly homeless people.
What I encountered was a clinic on a tree-​lined campus, young, well-​dressed staff, and even a TV with videos to help patients pass the time during the wait. The student staff were polite and friendly. I got the distinct impression that they were given a dress code because none of them were in jeans.
Patients are seen using a combination of triage and first-​come first serve.
I was pleasantly surprised by the consultation. As others have mentioned, patients are seen initially by a med student, and then by a doctor with the med student. My vital signs were taken and I was asked my medical history. I was encouraged to see that the students did not want to simply hurry along the specific acute need, but ordered standard general health screenings, as well.
Here are two dings:
— Since the VA generally does not operate on Sundays, this is apparently the time used for maintenance. The power was out 30 – 40 minutes of my stay.
— As others have mentioned, the wait is much longer than at a regular doctor’s office. I’d estimate that it took an hour for the initial questions, designed to collect vital signs and information about why I was there. From that information, the students triaged the patients, and decided the order that patients would be seen. I’d say that it took at least another half hour before I was seen. It took another half hour for the student to do small things, such as write up two prescriptions, and order two tests. It took him another 10 minutes to make photocopies of those papers.
I would advise potential patients to arrive early (before 10:00) and to be prepared to stay the entire time (until 2:00). Forewarned is forearmed, so the long waits did not bother me until the end.
Another poster said he or she had a hard time finding parking. This comment is perplexing to me because the VA grounds are practically empty on Sunday, and I found more than enough parking.

Forget finding a parking space. Took me longer to find parking than driving here.
It is much more clean than any other that I’ve been and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful.

Everyone here seems to care, the volunteers can even be seen fetching extra chairs for people to sit when the clinic gets too busy, and it is busy. I had never been to Arbor before and arrived at 9:15 hoping that when the doctors arrived I would not have to wait too long. There were already ten people ahead of me. I asked them realisticly how long it might take, and they let me know that it was a very slow process, but if I could wait they could help me.
First a volunteer takes you back and takes some general iformation, then a student practitioner sees you, and then the student and a doctor. The process is long and I ended up spending four hours there, but I did eventually get taken care of and it’s free.

This is probably a difficult review for me to write because as a bachelors degree holding person, I never thought I would be in this situation.
I was laid off twice (through no fault of my own) this past year and since the unemployment check barely covers rent and food, I couldn’t afford the COBRA medical benefits.
Since my ear and glands below it were in extreme pain that I’ve never experienced before, I went online desperately seeking free medical services that could help. What I found was the Arbor Free Clinic that is open every Sunday from 11am — 2pm. I arrived at 10:30, but to my dismay the doors had opened at 9:30am and there were already 19 people ahead of me.
Fortunately the volunteer staff assured me that anyone who comes in WILL BE SEEN today by both a medical student and a doctor, you may just have to wait about 3 hours — but when you need help, your willing to wait. I think they take longer because they geuinely care for the whole person and the medical knowledge of the PhD students and doctors is top notch (after all it’s Stanford).
The whole experience was heart-​warming and hopeful. Every single staff person geuinely cared about you and your medical concerns. Not for one second did they make me feel out of place, in fact the patient advocate explained how because of situations just like mine, they have seen an increase need for their services and they are happy to help — no questions asked.
So if you or someone you know needs to see a doctor but can’t afford it, come here and come right when the doors open (9:30am). It’s better than paying $ 100 to be seen at Kaiser with a doctor who could care less.