The Chaplain of Oakland

“The Chaplain of Oakland” is fiscally sponsored by The Gleanings Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your tax-deductible donation to The Gleanings Foundation will support the completion of this film.

Betty Clark, the Chaplain of Oakland with a patient

78-year-old Betty Clark has spent her life championing racial justice. Whether as an African American teenager integrating her high school in 1950s Kentucky or as a hospital chaplain exposing unequal treatment at the bedside, Chaplain Betty has been a dogged activist around equal rights for people of color. As we follow her through the Oakland hospital where she works, we witness the devastating impact of healthcare inequities—and meet the web of people driven to change it.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Chaplain of Oakland film project, press the following link – COO. When making a donation, please notate that your donation is for The Chaplain of Oakland in the notes.

Executive Producer 

Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH, is a filmmaker focusing on personal stories that address the way people die in America. Past media include the Oscar-nominated “Extremis,” which is currently streaming on Netflix, and “Caregiver: A Love Story,” which won Best Documentary Short at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Atlantic, and the Huffington Post. She has been a guest on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, “Doctor Oz,” and CBS Sunday Morning. In addition to making media, Dr. Zitter is the author of Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life. Dr. Zitter attended Stanford University and Case Western Reserve University Medical School and earned her Master of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Her medical training includes an Internal Medicine residency at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellowship in Pulmonary/Critical Care at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2005 Dr. Zitter co-founded Vital Decisions, a telephone counseling service for patients with life-limiting illnesses. She practices at the public hospital in Oakland California.