Dr. Francis Dillon was just 10 years out of medical school and in residency when he took on a role that was both deeply fulfilling and immensely challenging: volunteering as a physician at the Good News Health Clinic.

Back in 1992, the Clinic was little more than a makeshift first aid station tucked inside the Men’s Shelter. Today, it operates from a dedicated facility on the Good News campus, serving not only homeless men but also uninsured and underinsured residents across the city.

Dillon, now 66 and a physician specializing in internal medicine, critical care, and anesthesia, remembers when he first heard about the Clinic in 1995. “Mike Baker and Brian Hamm were podiatry residents,” Dillon recalls. “They told me, ‘we go down there every week to help the guys and bring them socks, but they come in with medical issues we can’t handle.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll come in and see some patients.’ That’s how it started.”

With Dillon on board, the Clinic began to shift from a simple first aid stop into a functioning health clinic capable of addressing broader medical needs. His presence made it possible to treat more complex conditions and laid the groundwork for expanded services in the years to come.

Over the next 14 years, Dillon volunteered every week treating a wide range of conditions—from wound care and diabetes management to blood pressure control. Sometimes, the cases were far more serious.

“Occasionally something extraordinary would come in,” he said. “We had a man with active tuberculosis we had to send to Wishard Hospital. Another time, a young man came in with signs of a brain tumor. I was able to connect him with a pediatrician I knew, who got him the treatment he needed.”

The hardest part, Dillon says, was arranging care beyond the first visit. “If someone needed surgery for a wound, or treatment for a sexually transmitted infection that went beyond what we could manage with basic medicine, it was a challenge finding the right place to send them.”

When the new Clinic building—then called the Good Samaritan Health Clinic—opened in 2001, Dillon continued to serve. The larger space allowed for expanded services and a growing number of patients.

Though he played a key role in the Clinic’s development, Dillon is quick to deflect praise. “Some of the nurses, especially Becky Evans, would stay long after I left to finish charts and keep treating wounds. I was bowled over by their devotion,” he said. ‘“I’m not the hero of that Clinic. Becky and the nurses were the heroes.”

We praise God for establishing the Good News Health Clinic and allowing it to become what it is today—all for His glory!