My wife, Christine, is a nurse by education and training. I never got the fascination to the medical profession.

My son, Christopher, is an Emergency Room nurse who has a long list of “who-done-its” that he shares with me about the flow of patients on the night shift at his hospital. Some of these stories literally turn my stomach.

My twin sons, Cory and Jason, were pre-med majors in Molecular Microbiology. Jason finally chose to do his masters work in that arena and ultimately ended up with the Food and Drug Administration as microbiology geek. His twin brother, Cory, is doing his masters in Physiology while choosing to teach science and biology in addition to his job as head weightlifting coach at St. Cloud High School.

What possesses people to pursue medicine and the sciences? I can’t flip by the medical channel quick enough to get to NASCAR or House on the tube. I have absolutely no interest in anything medically related, unless it’s watching House insult his team of doctors. I’m just a redneck insurance salesman who happens to write books, columns and gives speeches occasionally.

Therefore, imagine how amazed I am to see what is happening at the St. Thomas Aquinas Medical Clinic in St. Cloud, Florida. What would possess dozens of doctors to give up their precious time to donate it to a free medical clinic?

What would possess scores of nurses and other medical professionals to work a full day at their regular job and show up hungry, tired and drained to give several more hours of free service to patients who have no insurance, because they just got canned at the mouse house in nearby Orlando?

What would possess dozens of lay people to donate their time to help the indigent and underinsured as case workers, office personnel, parking attendants and maintenance people?

What would possess a company like Sonodepot to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ultrasound medical equipment and in-kind services worth thousands more to assist in the cause of helping those who cannot help themselves because they’ve fallen on hard times?

What would possess all these people to have to go through the arduous process of being vetted by our umbrella organization, the Diocese of Orlando? Why would they go through being fingerprinted and complete background checks in order to donate their time, talent and treasure to a cause so dear?

I once met the famous Patch Adams on the speaker’s circuit when we were both speaking to a group of medical professionals. I was there to talk about rendering better customer service; Patch Adams was there to be the example of how to do it.

My daughter-in-law, Jessica, has just completed the prodigious process of being accepted into Medical School. I witnessed, first-hand, the demanding procedures she went through of proving to the school how well-rounded she was. It occurs to me that Jessica and all the other people who pursue medicine do so for reasons far beyond my limited brain scope. They do this because they care about others.

St. Thomas Aquinas Medical Clinic sees many new patients each week. Lest you think that most are unemployed fruit pickers who are here illegally, the majority of our new patients are right off the unemployment rolls of major corporations doing business in greater Orlando. One thing is for sure: health care reform reformed absolutely nothing.

So why would a doctor or a nurse give up their precious free time for a cause like this? I’m obnoxious enough to ask them. Color me skeptical. One very prominent physician, who prefers anonymity, told me “This is the one place I can actually practice medicine. I don’t have to punch a clock or process X-number of patients per hour. I can spend as much time as I need to help these people. I actually get to practice medicine here.” My job at the clinic is to help recruit new volunteers and to raise money to pay for the bandages and syringes and other stuff that costs money. I get to sell the message to churches, hospitals, civic groups and anyone else who will listen to our story. In short, I’m a mouthpiece who encourages civic groups, churches, hospitals, people with deep pockets, medical professionals and lay people to donate their time, talent and treasure to our cause.

When we raise as little as $500 per month, it means we can see two more patients who might not get care because they have nowhere else to go. Perhaps the answer is right there in what I call the “customer service prayer,” the prayer to St. Francis. “It is in giving that we receive...”