ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — California is seeing the opening of a groundbreaking free surgical clinic, designed to assist lower-income and underinsured or entirely uninsured individuals in accessing necessary surgeries.

This innovative clinic operates with the support of volunteer surgeons and will hold the title of the nation’s first no-cost surgery center specifically focused on providing low-risk, non-life-threatening but essential procedures for patients. 

According to Lestonnac Free Clinic, since 1979 it has delivered “139,129 patients with medical, dental, and vision services through 475,753 patient visits.” The newly established surgical center is located in Orange, California, just south of Anaheim, and it opened its doors on May 1. 

This new clinic, which anticipates performing the first three surgeries in mid-June, will focus on hernia repairs, cataract surgeries and colonoscopy screenings, according to LAist.

“These are surgeries that don’t take much time, some are 15 minutes, but they change lives,” Courtney Harrison, the clinic’s Director of Surgical Services, told DirectRelief. “One hernia patient couldn’t work for two years. After the surgery, he was back on his feet.”

Over the past few years, Lestonnac performed similar procedures in offsite surgery centers in Southern California. 

During that time, they found three positives for colon cancer and were able to get the patients into proper treatment, according to the Orange County Business Journal.

“Had we not done these surgeries, we would not have caught it early and that colon cancer would have cost that person their life,” Gerber told the publication.

The 4,000-square-foot surgical center was created with the help of over $7 million in donations from grants, large name donors and fundraising over four years, according to KABC. 

“It is not a secondhand facility. We’ve built an absolutely marvelous place for people to get the care that they need,” executive director Edward Gerber told KABC. 

In December 2024, Gerber told the Orange County Business Journal 3,000 people were on the waiting list. 

The clinic anticipates performing more than 60 surgeries a month and 700 surgeries in their first year, according to LAist. 

“I have no doubt that what we’re going to do here is going to save lives,” Gerber told KABC.

“From dreams to reality, this is for the people, by the people. Free care. Real impact. Limitless love,” the clinic wrote on social media. “Here’s to changing lives, one surgery at a time.”