3 Doctors Built a Free Clinic That Now Serves 4,000 a Year

When Dr. Charles Kennedy started making house calls to a Salvation Army day program in 1994, he had no idea he was planting the seeds of something extraordinary.

Kennedy and two fellow Mayo Clinic physicians, Dr. Jarrett Richardson and Dr. Robert Stanhope, were all seeing the same troubling pattern. More and more patients couldn't get care simply because they lacked insurance. The three doctors, who knew each other from church, decided to do something about it.

Their solution was scrappy. They hung curtain dividers from the ceiling of a second-floor conference room at The Salvation Army in Rochester, Minnesota, creating makeshift exam rooms. They opened one night a week in February 1995, calling it The Salvation Army Free Acute Care Clinic.

"People really came out of the woodwork," Kennedy recalled. Doctors and pharmacists volunteered in droves. One local pharmacist even promised to personally cover the cost of any medication patients needed that the clinic didn't have in stock.

The early days were what Kennedy called "cowboy medicine." But the cowboy approach worked. Dr. Stanhope secured malpractice coverage through Mayo Clinic, removing a major barrier. Dr. Alan Wright, a retired infectious disease specialist, put it simply: "Without the insurance, this clinic would have never gotten off the ground."

Three decades later, the curtains are gone. The Salvation Army Good Samaritan Health Clinic, now lovingly called "Good Sam," occupies a beautiful purpose-built space. It serves between 3,500 and 4,000 patients each year across eleven specialty clinics, including cardiology, neurology, dermatology, and diabetes care.

Mayo Clinic's support has grown too. All first-year medical students now volunteer at Good Sam as part of their curriculum, adding two more clinic sessions each week. The hospital also donates tens of thousands of dollars worth of pharmaceuticals, covering everything except narcotics at no cost to patients.

"If one of our patients needs a pharmaceutical, we can get it for them without charge," said Major Randy Hellstrom, Corps Officer of The Salvation Army in Rochester. "We're talking about people who don't go without insulin or heart medications."

The Ripple Effect

The clinic's impact extends far beyond medical care. Medical students learn about the social determinants of health while gaining real clinical experience. They see firsthand how healthcare access transforms lives, a lesson that will shape their entire careers.

The three founding doctors recently returned to the clinic with their families for an emotional ceremony. A commemorative plaque now hangs in the lobby, reminding everyone who walks through the doors that transformative change often starts with three people who simply refused to accept the status quo.

What began with hanging sheets and borrowed space now helps 4,000 people see a doctor every single year.