Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, Tenderloin Health Services closing

The HealthRIGHT360 Integrated Care Center on 1563 Mission St. The HealthRIGHT360 Integrated Care Center on 1563 Mission St. Photo: HealthRIGHT 360 Via Yelp Photo: HealthRIGHT 360 Via Yelp Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, Tenderloin Health Services closing 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic promoted the value of "healthcare as a human right" when it opened its doors as the first free medical clinic in the country.

Fifty-two years later, as neighborhoods change and competition rises, the clinic is closing its doors.

HealthRIGHT 360, a family of integrated health programs throughout California, plans to reimagine the Clayton Street location, SF Weekly reports. Its affiliate program, Tenderloin Health Services, will also close down in October.

Financial struggles and a drop in patients in the past few years has caused these decisions, Lauren Kahn, managing director of policy and communications, told the Weekly.

Haight Ashbury Free Clinics runs out of two locations: one at 558 Clayton St. and one on 1563 Mission St. Earlier this month, HealthRIGHT 360 moved Clayton St.'s medical staff to its Mission Street location and stopped offering medical services out of the Clayton Street location.

Tenderloin Health Services will ultimately shut down in October. HealthRIGHT 360 is working to transition most of the current staff to the 1563 Mission St. location. They are also working to transition patients either to other HealthRIGHT 360 programs or to another provider within the Tenderloin.

Read more about the clinics on SF Weekly.

The Chronicle first reported on the clinic in 1967, back when it opened during the Summer of Love. At the time the clinic was faced with an emergency, being severely understaffed and in need of more medicine and equipment.

Click through the gallery to see file photos of Haight Ashbury Free Clinic from the '70s.

RELATED: Haight-Ashbury: 1960s and now

Isabela Angus is an SFGATE editorial intern. Email: isabela.angus@sfgate.com