ORANGE PARK – The ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark The Way Free Medical Clinic's official opening was a time for staff, volunteers and community partners to celebrate. Still, it was clear that Executive Director Don Fann appeared more relieved about completing the new facility on College Drive.

“It's a little bit bittersweet for me in that I recently discovered I can finally retire and spend some time with my wife, who has been waiting patiently for three years since her retirement,” he said. “I am really pleased with what we have assembled; not only is it a wonderful facility, but it is also an incredible team here. Those of you who present on our team, our staff, our team that supports a large pool of volunteers – 60 or 70 at any given time. That’s how we do the work that we do.

“As I exit this, I always say this is absolutely the best thing I've ever done in my career. I think I can leave feeling good, partly because I know I have a great person following me in a leadership role.”

For Fann, it was always about the journey, not the destination. Now that The Way has been delivered, he’s ready to move on and pass the keys, or in this case, the hard hat, to Associate Executive Director Andrea Crowder.

“I believe this is beautiful,” Fann said. “We're going to serve more patients. It's just worked out phenomenally. I'm very happy with the way everything's turned out.

“Today, we want to do sort of a passing of the torch captured on film. So, if we came here trying to figure out what to pass, we thought we might pass a stethoscope, right? So this hard hat was used quite a bit over the last few years, and  I'll put it on so I can remove it, and then I will pass the torch to Andrea.”

Crowder will become the Executive Director on Jan. 1. Fann will remain with the clinic during the transition as the interim development director until someone else is hired in the spring.

“I met with him [Fann] two years ago,” Crowder said. “I sat with him in a coffee shop for about two hours to hear about The Way Clinic, which he didn't have to explain because I love this place, the volunteers and our staff members. It’s just incredible. Having the community support us is the best gift for us. Thank you, Don. I look forward to taking the clinic. I look forward to the next steps. There’s more to come in 2025.”

The clinic is at 302 College Dr., across the street from St. Johns River State College. Low-income residents within 300% or below the federal poverty level who are uninsured or unable to access care are eligible to seek medical and dental services. Proof of eligibility may be required for certain services.

The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call (904) 531-9504.