By Monica Simmons
Communications Coordinator
Dr. Steven Crow, People’s longest tenured employee, celebrates his 27th year at the clinic in 2020. His People’s story started in the basement of the Congregational Church, where the first clinic was held. Dr. Crow (then just an undergraduate at UT) began volunteering in 1983 during the beginning of the HIV epidemic, a time when little was known about the virus. People’s was the first location in Austin where patients could get anonymous testing. While working up to 90 hours a semester, Dr. Crow was immersed in a way of caring for patients that was distinct.
“This was long before HIV treatment, but that didn’t matter to [People’s doctor] Dr. Blair,” said Dr. Crow. “He’d spend as much time in the room as the patient needed. Sometimes that meant clinic would run really late, but that wasn’t as important as giving good care.”
The experience of working at the clinic inspired him to become the compassionate provider he is today. Dr. Crow says that the original ethos of People’s, to treat patients with dignity and respect, has remained the same throughout the nearly three decades he’s been a doctor.
“While many things have changed (new buildings, new technology, new faces), kind culture has always propagated over the years,” said Dr. Crow.
Thanks, Dr. Crow, for teaching us kindness and togetherness through your work.
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This year is BIG for People’s Community Clinic. In 2020 People’s marks 50 years of providing affordable, accessible health care to Central Texans in need. That’s 50 years of serving Central Texas communities with dignity and respect; 50 years of collaborating with other area non-profits for integrative care; 50 years of working for #healthequity and #affordablecare in Central Texas. Keep making stories like Fred’s possible with a donation to People’s.