About

Based in Los Angeles, California, the mission of AltaMed Health Services (AltaMed) aims to eliminate disparities in healthcare access and outcomes by providing superior-quality health and human services through an integrated, world-class delivery system for multiethnic and underserved communities in Southern California. AltaMed is a nonprofit corporation that operates over 60 community clinics in Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as mobile oral health units, mobile HIV testing units, and co-branded pediatric clinics with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

AltaMed has its roots in the Brown Berets during the Chicano Movement in East Los Angeles. In 1969, they established the East LA Barrio Free Clinic to provide the Mexican and Latino communities with access to quality, affordable healthcare in their native language. Since then, AltaMed has expanded beyond its first clinic, working to eliminate barriers to medical services and ensure that historically vulnerable neighborhoods and communities have access to quality healthcare. AltaMed strives to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care, create workforce pipelines, and advocate for healthcare policy and voter rights.

As part of its holistic approach to healthcare, AltaMed exhibits its art collection throughout its clinics and service sites, reflecting the diverse communities it serves. Engagement with art helps reduce stress and depression and can alleviate the burden of illness and pain. AltaMed hires professional bilingual artists to teach classes to its patients and commissions artists to create murals and sculptures at its clinics. The art collection comprises approximately 4,000 works in various media, including prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, sculpture, and mixed media. AltaMed also regularly loans artwork to exhibitions that travel across the United States. Its staff curates local and global exhibitions, often working with guest curators and publishing exhibition catalogues.