Company Profile

Company History

Founded in 1971, Open Door was created to address the lack of accessible, high-quality health care in a rural and underserved region of Northern California. From its earliest days as a volunteer-run clinic in Arcata, Open Door has been rooted in community leadership, shared responsibility, and a belief that health care is a fundamental human right.

In 1991, Open Door expanded services into neighboring Del Norte County – one of the most remote and economically challenged regions in the state — bringing its purpose to communities facing great barriers to care. This period of growth was shaped by the leadership of Herrmann Spetzler, who became Chief Executive Officer in 1977. Until his unexpected passing in 2018, Herrmann guided the organization through four decades of change and growth, always championing rural and community-based health care at the State and Federal levels.

Open Door's forward-thinking approach to lowering barriers to care has helped shape community health in California.

Open Door pioneered ways of addressing the social factors that affect health long before their importance was widely recognized, through progams like our Health and Wellness Gardens and on-site food pantries, and integrating nutrition, health education, and community engagement into healthcare settings.

Our Advanced Practice Practitioner and Family Medicine residency programs, mobile medical and dental services, patient navigation, and one of the region's first telehealth-focused health centers, reflect Open Door's leadership, for over five decades, in pursuit of health equity and strengthening the rural health workforce.

Today, Open Door operates thirteen community health centers and is the largest provider of primary care, dental, behavioral health, and obstetric services on the California's North Coast, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

In addition to providing care to more than 90,000 friends, family members, and neighbors (nearly 60% of the area's population), Open Door is a major economic driver in the region, employing over 800 staff, and with a $135 million budget driving a regional economic impact estimated at nearly $1 billion.

For more than fifty-five years, Open Door has evolved in size and scope, but its purpose remains unchanged: to promote social justice and human dignity through exceptional, patient-centered care that improves the health and wellbeing of our patients, community, and staff.