Who We Are

A bit of Clinic History:
Originally, the EFMC was a spin-off of the HOME clinic (Homeworkers Organization for More Employment). HOME had a clinic where volunteers came together to help with skills training and projects for low income Mainers who were unemployed or underemployed. These skills included wood cutting, auto mechanics, and crafts as well as basic sheltering for the homeless.

With all these folks congregating in one area, Orland, it was clear there was a need for a medical clinic to provide care to the employees and other workers. The team were able to collect donated equipment and supplies and the clinic was born sometime between 1989 and 1991! The medical community provided much more than goodwill!

The three identified what the obstacles to care might be in the current location: access, knowledge about the services offered and convenience. About 1990, a nurse started volunteering at the clinic and she, along with the physicians, started thinking it might be wise to relocate the clinic closer to the “Shiretown” (the town or city that is the seat of government for a shire) of Ellsworth. They determined that most folks came to Ellsworth weekly for work, shopping, schools or entertainment and that it would be a logical place to locate the clinic so they set out to create a clinic in Ellsworth modeled on the HOME Clinic. After several location changes the Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic is now situated at the Mill Mall.