ST. LOUIS — America’s Center downtown will be turned into a massive health clinic next week, offering free medical, vision and dental care to whoever needs it, including those without insurance.

More than 1,800 health care professionals and volunteers will be able to care for up to 1,200 people a day, starting at 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday, organizers say. Care will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and the clinic will close each day when capacity is reached.

Medical services that will be provided include primary care, cardiology, dermatology, psychiatry, podiatry, women’s health and even minor surgeries with local anesthesia.

Dental services include cleanings, fillings and extractions. And vision care includes eye exams and prescription glasses.

Other services will also be available such as physical therapy, massage, haircuts and clothing items. For more information, visit pathwaytohealth.org or call 844-545-8000.

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“We have the privilege of coming to your backyard and finding a way to be able to offer this free service without any co-pays, nothing. No I.D. required, and no insurance required,” said Enno Mueller, communications director for the Pathway to Health event.

“Patients can be seen for multiple things,” he said. “You can see the dentist, get a haircut, get glasses and a physical all in one day.”

Pathway to Health is a humanitarian mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that dates back to 2014, when the first clinic was held in the San Francisco area by church members wanting to help their community, Mueller said.

Pathway to Health is a humanitarian mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that dates back to 2014. In 2018, it visited the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth , Texas.

A year later, Pathway to Health formed as an official nonprofit and the growing all-volunteer staff has since held eight large-scale clinics across the country, with a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, in cities such as Indianapolis and San Antonio.

St. Louis was chosen this year because the Seventh-day Adventist global conference , held every five years, will be held here in July, where a few thousand delegates from across the world will gather to elect church leaders and vote on issues.

“The idea was why don’t we come ahead of this internal meeting, where decisions are being made and elections are being done, and show a different face or an external face to the people of St. Louis, to share how the Seventh-day Adventist Church cares about people,” Mueller said.

Putting on the event is a major undertaking, he said. Truckloads of medical equipment and portable drapes must be moved in to give patients privacy and dignity as they receive care. Organizers have also worked closely with Missouri Department of Health to ensure all providers are properly licensed.

In addition, Pathway to Health’s medical director has made several prior visits to St. Louis, creating partnerships with local providers in order to ensure that patients have follow-up and continuous care in the community should they need it.

Attendees who need prescription eyeglasses will be able to pick them up at one of the nearly dozen Seventh-day Adventist churches around the St. Louis region after the event. The churches will also host several follow-up seminars on issues such as managing diabetes and cooking healthy.

The main entrance of the FEMA Community Vaccination Center in America’s Center remains quiet on Monday, May 31, 2021.

“We care about restoring dignity and showing respect to people,” Mueller said. “Health is something that regardless of who you are, what faith you have, what ethnicity, what gender — that everybody at some point in their life is concerned about. We saw that as an opportunity provide a service to everyone.”

Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of April 20, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.

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