Thousands flock to Seattle Center for free health care weekend

110 dental chairs fill KeyArena for the free Seattle/King County Clinic on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. 110 dental chairs fill KeyArena for the free Seattle/King County Clinic on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Thousands flock to Seattle Center for free health care weekend 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

Irina waited more than 10 hours for her dental procedure on Thursday.

When it was over, she couldn't help smiling.

The 34-year-old was one of more than 4,000 patients who will receive care at the Seattle/King County Clinic, which began Thursday and runs through Sunday at KeyArena.

"It was the best experience ever," she said. "They're just so kind and gentle, and it doesn't hurt at all. They were just really patient with me. It was awesome."

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At the clinic, a collaboration between Seattle Center, the City of Seattle, health care organizations, nonprofits, private businesses and community organizations, patients like Irina who wouldn't normally be able to afford various dental, vision and medical procedures can get them for free -- or almost free.

"The only cost is our time and our tiredness," said Billy McNamara, 54, smiling as she sat in a dentist's chair on the floor of the arena. "It's awesome to receive this."

If you go The Seattle/King County Clinic runs through Sunday at KeyArena. Daily admission tickets (there are no reservations or appointments) will be distributed each day starting at 5 a.m. at Fisher Pavilion on the corner of 2nd Avenue N. and Thomas Street. The pavilion opens at 12:30 a.m. each morning for those wishing to get in line, and free parking will be offered at the Mercer Street garage at 650 3rd Ave. North and the 1st Avenue garage at 220 1st Ave. North.

John Merner, director of Seattle Center Productions, helped spawn the idea for the clinic, which he believes to be the largest of its kind in the country, after seeing a story on a pop-up clinic in Tennessee on "60 Minutes."

"We knew we didn't understand the medical, dental or vision fields," Merner said. "But we knew how to put together large-scale events and deal with complexity and reach out to audiences."

It took Merner about 18 months to get the first clinic up and running. Now in its fourth year, the clinic served 11,900 people over its first three, providing treatment valued at nearly $10 million. Patients, many of whom are uninsured or underinsured, pay nothing. They simply have to wait in line and obtain a daily admission ticket.

Some, like Irina and Billy, have long waits (particularly for dental work). Others, like 62-year-old Frank Armstrong, only stood in line for a few minutes before being seen. In a concourse area dotted with beer ads and corporate logos, Armstrong visited with nurse Tanesha Tekola, one of the 1,000 or so volunteers needed every day to make the clinic run.

Tekola asked him several questions from an intake form. They briefly discussed his high blood pressure, but other than that, Armstrong seemed to be in good shape in his third visit to the clinic. Two years ago he waited more than five hours to get in. Last year, that time was reduced to about three hours. The former Boeing employee who now lives on disability said the care he has received is well worth the wait.

"I don't have a doctor. I don't have any medical anything," Armstrong said while waiting for a hepatitis vaccination. "Trying to get things straight here."

Patients receiving treatment at the clinic don't need to bring an ID or provide their immigration status. They don't even have to give their names if they don't want to. Translators help those who don't speak English as their primary language, and if there's not a translator in a given language available, patients can call one up using a service that connects them to an interpreter via video call. In the first three years of the clinic, patients speaking 37 different primary languages received care.

"Imagine if you don't speak English, you haven't been to the dentist in a lifetime, you sat all night in line and you come up to that front door, and suddenly someone comes up on the screen who speaks your language," Merner said. "You'd think, 'Maybe this is going to work.'"

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The arena's future is unsure as the Seattle City Council negotiates a possible redevelopment agreement for the former home of the Sonics. But this weekend, the floor once home to Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton is covered by dentist chairs, scores of volunteers and four 3D printers making dental crowns. The luxury boxes have been converted to exam rooms offering services from wound care to mammograms, Pap smears to acupuncture. Patients can be fitted with new eyeglasses or reading glasses or connect with a social worker.

There's even a doggy day care for patients who bring their four-legged friends.

Merner said the clinic's budget is roughly $1 million per year, about $700,000 of which is raised through donations. ("I've raised money for a lot of programs," he said. "It's never as easy as this.") The response thus far makes it seem likely that the clinic is going to be an annual tradition in Seattle -- until, that is, everyone who needs health care can actually afford it.

See you next year.

Seattlepi.com reporter Stephen Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8313 or stephencohen@seattlepi.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @scohenPI.