North East Medical Services soft-opened its new three-story Ingleside clinic on the 1400 block of Ocean Avenue in June and will fully open the site in August, an official said.
The San Francisco-based health center mainly targets the medically underserved Asian population. They currently have 11 locations throughout the city and have one location in Daly City and one in San Jose.
Originally started in the North Beach more than 50 years ago, NEMS initially served Chinese-speaking populations, according to NEMS Government and Community Affairs representative Vivian Liang. Today NEMS has served non-AAPI populations as well.
The full opening of the Ocean Avenue branch has been delayed until the end of summer when enough staff can be hired to operate the clinic, Liang said.
“Ingleside serves a variety of different populations,” Liang said. “We thought it’d be a good place, close by, where they can go to the doctor, do whatever they need and just have a place in the community.”
NEMS offer a range of services such as adult medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, dental, behavioral health and other specialized services including lab work, acupuncture and more.
“I think we care about that quality of care that we could give out,” Liang said. “We just want to bring back more stuff for the community and just bring back services that folks are missing.”
The care doctors show can be seen in patient and doctor relationships, Liang said.
Non-medical services such as helping people with CalFresh, registering people to vote and more are also offered.
“Even if folks already have a primary care provider or they already have whatever specialty services that they have, they can always drop by and just ask us a question,” Liang said. “Our member services team loves to answer questions.”
As a nonprofit community health center that strives to provide to underserved communities, NEMS takes all types of insurance such as Medi-Cal and treats low-income patients and those that are uninsured.
Neighborhood Fit
Passersby interviewed on the street were unaware about NEMS but many were glad to know it was in the neighborhood.
“I think it’s fantastic to have as many facilities in the neighborhood as possible and the more accessibility to health care we can provide to people the better,” resident Vanessa Homewood said.
Loc Tham Group realtor Peter Tham, who believes that medical services should be limited to non-street level spaces, has mixed reviews on its opening.
“I do appreciate seeing critical medical services, such as NEMS, open up to serve residents of all income levels in our neighborhood,” Tham said. “On the other hand, I am concerned that another retail storefront has been removed.”
Tham, who is a vice chair of the Ingleside Merchants Association, said he has heard the argument that patients can bring foot traffic to surrounding shops and is open to see if that concept holds true for nearby small businesses.
“It's too soon for us to really understand their impact, as it's been mixed results for other neighborhoods in the city,” Tham said.
The organization’s former in-take clinic, which is now occupied by Ingleside Gallery, was previously located on the 1500 block of Ocean Avenue store fronts and still displays a vibrant “Ingleside Pride” mural on its commercial door.
NEMS also owns another building on the same block with two storefronts. One is occupied by Sherwin Williams and the other is vacant.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
