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Commonwealth Health Corporation, including the Free Clinic, is a tobacco-free campus.

Dale Clark is a soft-spoken man with strong opinions about the importance of helping others. A Pharmacist for 32 years, he began volunteering at the Free Clinic about a year ago. He usually works at the Clinic one night a month, but he is always available to come in if the Clinic is short-handed.

Dale stays as busy at the Clinic as he does during his full-time day job at Springhill Pharmacy in Bowling Green. He fills about 30 prescriptions an hour, carries them out to patients, and talks to patients about how to take the medicines safely and effectively.

Some of the Free Clinic patients were actually former customers of Dale's before they became patients at the Free Clinic. These are people Dale knew did not have the means to pay for basic healthcare and prescriptions. They would have to decide each month whether they were going to take care of their health or pay the bills. Dale says that sometimes patients try to extend their prescriptions by taking a dose every other day or every third day. This procedure not only greatly reduces the effectiveness of medications but can also be harmful to health.

According to Dale, “Time spent at the Free Clinic is well worth it. The patients themselves are very good.” He says that the patients are very appreciative of the volunteers’ efforts and that he has received comments about how much better the medications have made them feel.

He encourages others to volunteer their time at the Free Clinic. While all types of volunteers are very appreciated, he recognizes that those with specialized talents, such as other pharmacists, doctors, and dentists are very critical to the nightly operation of the Free Clinic. “You don’t have to make a big commitment,” he says. “If you try it and find it’s not your thing, you don’t have to do it anymore.”

But volunteering is definitely Dale’s “thing”. A while ago he had plans to retire soon. But now retirement is “at least 10 years away”.