Seattle Children’s is committed to caring for all children in our region, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Through their unsurpassed quality of clinical care, relentless spirit of inquiry and compassion for children and families, they are driven by the belief that every child should have the opportunity to live a healthy and full life.

In 2017, Seattle Children’s provided more than $164 million in uncompensated care for medical expenses and support services. Since 2013, the amount of financial support provided through the uncompensated care fund has increased by 57% and the need is expected to continue to grow.

Because of this vital fund, Seattle Children’s is able to give every child who walks through their door the exact medical care and social services support they need. It’s a place where everyone is on a level playing field, and that can be hard to find in our changing world, particularly within healthcare.

Your support helps ensure that no matter how medically complex or costly a patient’s care may be, Seattle Children’s is able to say yes to caring for all children in our region.

Seattle Children’s Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC) has its roots in the late 1960s, when Seattle became the first city to convene a task force to formulate a plan to provide children’s healthcare in the heart of the neighborhood. Strongest among those task force voices was a woman named Odessa Brown. Brown was a hairstylist and a mother of four. Turned away from healthcare herself, she became a powerful voice of advocacy and promised her children they would never endure such indignity. Odessa Brown died of leukemia in 1969. When the new children’s clinic opened the following year, the task force unanimously voted to name it in her honor.

Today OBCC provides medical, dental, mental health and nutrition services to all families regardless of their ability to pay. They also work to address the social, economic, and environmental roots of illness, which can be even more important than direct care in a child’s overall health. They serve a population that is mostly low-income; about 80% of the patients have Medicaid. They serve a diverse population and the waiting room is a kaleidoscope of faces, clothing, family structures, languages and cultures.