Dr. Jack MCConnell is the brains and heart behind the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic on Hilton Head Island, which provides free health care services to people who otherwise would not get them. Many of them don't go anywhere. Retired physicians and nurses provide free medical services at the clinic to people who live or work on Hilton Head Island, as long as they fall below 200 percent of the poverty level and lack health insurance. The clinic also serves adults on Medicaid. Practicing physicians donate time, medical supplies and equipment.
Pharmaceutical companies donate medicine.
VIM also receives monetary donations and grants. But when he saw the poverty on the island, he couldn't enjoy his retirement the way he'd planned. By picking up hitchhikers McConnell was able to meet people in the community whom he wouldn't have run into on the greens. He found out many of these people weren't getting any medical care. McConnell's experiences with the hitchhikers prompted him to thoroughly research the area.