ORANGE PARK – Nothing related to The Way Free Medical Clinic should have happened.
It was impossible to find a new home large enough to meet the need for free medical and dental services for those who were inadequately or completely uninsured.
Even if you had found a place, it would not have been possible to raise enough money to make it happen.
Other challenges included getting enough people to support the mission and finding enough volunteers to keep the mission running.
But step by step, miracle by miracle, The Way made the impossible a reality.
Call it divine providence.
“I feel like it’s a dream come true,” said CEO Don Fann. “It’s a dream come true.”
The clinic held an open house on August 21 at its new 7,000-square-foot building at 302 College Dr. Many who were involved in the transformation of an old commercial building into a medical and dental clinic toured the facility. They saw new equipment and bright smiles. They saw large waiting rooms, four dental offices, a maternity ward, a laboratory and an imaging department.
But above all, they saw hope.
“From the beginning, this has been an amazing vision and journey,” said board member Bob Olson. “Every single challenge along the way has been answered. I don’t think this was by accident. I think the will of God and the will of a caring community in Clay County have been at the heart of all of these answers.”
The Way operates out of a 3,200-square-foot building between the Clay County Courthouse and the administration building in Green Cove Springs. Executive director Don Fann said a new home was urgently needed because the need for care outgrew the facility and property values made the land too valuable.
A call from Karen King gave Fann the idea to find a solution. She offered him a 5,000-square-foot commercial building across from St. Johns River State College for free.
“It was divine intervention,” King said.
Fann said the renovation and expansion would cost $2.6 million, even with free land and building.
“When we got this building, I was told, ‘First of all, you’re never going to be able to raise a million dollars for something like this in Clay County,'” Fann said. “I was also told that I would have to spend $100,000 to raise a million dollars. That’s the formula for development. I said, ‘I’m not going to do that.'”
Fann said The Way spent no money and reached its $2.6 million goal by receiving the remaining $100,000 from the Paul and Claire Reinhold Foundation that same morning.
“There is one person here without whose generosity and vision we could not celebrate the success of creating this permanent headquarters,” Fann said. “That is Karen King.”
The new facility is centrally located in the district, a block from the VA offices. One of the four dental chairs is reserved for veterans. It is also across the street from State College, where Fann hopes nursing students will want to gain hands-on experience for credit.
Fann said a mobile unit will also serve residents in rural areas of the county.
Other amazing developments kept the project alive. As the list of major contributors grew, so did support from local and state governments. The largest pledge came from the state of Florida, in the amount of $1.45 million, initiated by Representatives Sam Garrison and Jennifer Bradley and supported by the state legislature.
Garrison said he and Bradley were at the older facility in Green Cove Springs in 2001 when Fann told him about the College Drive donation. When they talked about money, he said a child being educated about Type 1 diabetes caught Garrison’s attention because his daughter has the same chronic autoimmune disease.
“They told stories to these kids the same way (as his daughter did) by getting used education packets with donated insulin,” Garrison said. “Of course, when we went out there, I said, I’ll be damned if we don’t get this money. There were no lobbyists involved. There was no one involved except Jennifer Bradley and myself. So thank you to my colleagues. Thank you, Governor DeSantis, for approving the grant. This was done outside of the original grant process. This was a special deal; he didn’t have to say yes. He could veto it very easily. It’s very rare that counties get a grant of this magnitude through the grant process and make it through the veto process. The governor deserves all the credit in the world because we can put the money there, but if he doesn’t say yes, it doesn’t happen.”
Divine intervention.
Now the county just needs to do its occupancy inspection. Once that’s complete, nonprofits will install solar panels on the roof, which will lower the electric bill, while the rest of the equipment is installed. Fann said The Way should start accepting patients before Oct. 1.
At the end of the open house, Helen Werking of the Riverside Hospital Foundation stood up and announced that her organization would donate $50,000 to The Way the next morning. Already humbled and overwhelmed, Fann bowed her head and smiled.
Divine intervention.
