The first time I read about a free medical clinic that was staffed and run by volunteers, I was blown away by the concept. Really? Healthcare is so expensive, and there are endless rules and regulations. There is no way this could possibly work.

I read everything I could about this clinic (located in a southern town) and continued to be amazed. Retired healthcare professionals even moved to the area so they could be a part of this work. People still working at their regular jobs as well as retirees staffed the clinic. Medicines and healthcare were free, and patients could come back again and again to make it their primary care provider.

Then I moved to Maine, and there, miraculously, was Oasis Free Clinics, right in my community. Really? How lucky could we be? It didn’t take me long to find my way to the office, just to say hello and see with my own eyes that such a miracle could exist here.

February is American Heart Month. The smart folks at the American Heart Association took what was traditionally a Valentine’s Day/love theme and twisted it just a bit to champion good heart health. It was a smart move because good heart health is enhanced by what your emotional/soulful/passion heart does. Not smoking, getting physical activity, and eating a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is important in the care of our actual heart. But we can’t forget to take care of our emotional heart, as well. We are healthier with healthy, loving relationships. We are also healthier when we act on our soul’s passion. Love is an emotion, but what good is that emotion if we don’t share it through our actions?

There are no better examples of this kind of heart health than through the work of the volunteers of the Oasis Free Clinics. These people show their heart through their actions. We have medical professionals that provide the direct care of our patients – dentists, nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, doctors, and dental assistants, among those who give their heart to our patients. Some of them could be going home and resting after putting in long hours in their “regular” jobs. Some could be enjoying a well-deserved retirement by doing whatever makes them happy. But they have a heart that is passionate about helping people who can’t afford the high cost of healthcare.

They aren’t the only ones with that amazing heart. There are the volunteers who provide support for the clinic. They plan events, scoop gelato, make appointment reminder calls to patients, solicit donations and sponsorships, place a donation jar at their business checkout counter, sit on the Board of Directors, and help people through the bureaucracy to get free medications. And there are those who pick fresh produce, donate personal hygiene products, do data entry, market the Clinic on their social media, and play music at events. These are just some of the ways volunteers have been the beating heart of Oasis since its inception in 1992. When you walk into the place, you feel the heart. You see it in action.

It reminds me of the quote (attributed to multiple greats including Harry Truman, Mahatma Gandhi, Hubert Humphrey and Pearl Buck!), “The moral test of government (or society) is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children, those who are in the twilight of life, the elders, those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” Whoever said it first, or repeated it…was wise.

Oasis volunteers care about those in the shadows of life, those people who are sometimes invisible. These volunteers wear their heart in their actions. They are the heart that beats through the clinic. They are the Oasis Free Clinics.

Happy American Heart Month to the many Oasis volunteers who live their passion every day. Our world is a better place because of them.

Connie Jones is a volunteer writer and eligibility specialist at Oasis Free Clinics. Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration among four local non-profit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community. 

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