Keller Center for Family
Violence Intervention

The Keller Center for Family Violence Intervention is a unique, multi-disciplinary, nationally recognized clinic at San Mateo Medical Center. It serves the needs of victims of child physical and sexual abuse and neglect, adult sexual abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse, providing a compassionate, culturally sensitive, family-oriented experience for the victims of abuse, minimizing trauma and maximizing outcomes.

In August 2001, The Keller Center for Family Violence Intervention was created after a generous donation by philanthropists George and Adelaide Keller, longtime supporters of San Mateo Medical Center. Before the Keller Center opened at the Medical Center in 2001, children and adults who had been beaten or sexually assaulted in San Mateo County had to endure long waits in the county hospital emergency room. If they were conscious and not bleeding badly, wait times to see a nurse or doctor could be as long as six hours because heart attacks and people with severe physical trauma were given top priority.

The Keller Center provides comprehensive services and coordination of community services for over 1,700 victims and families of sexual assault, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse. Victims come from every city in San Mateo County, with no geographic or socio-economic barrier. Seventy-five percent of the victims are children.  Every year, since its inception, demand for services at the Keller Center continues to grow. The Keller Center is one of San Mateo County Health Foundation’s highest funding priorities.

The Center works in collaboration with legal and judicial systems to facilitate effective investigations and prosecutions. In all cases, clinicians at the Keller Center perform comprehensive forensic examinations and collect legal evidence in a manner that is compassionate and culturally sensitive, while protecting the rights of the victim.

​​The Center serves as a hub with four distinct interfaces:

• Medical & Surgical Clinical Care
• Law Enforcement/District Attorney’s Office
• Forensic Clinical Care
• Community Outreach​

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Since the Keller Center is the only emergency abuse trauma facility in San Mateo County, all local hospitals contact the Center when an abuse case comes to their emergency rooms. Referrals also come from law enforcement agencies.