Photographs by William Taufic.
With more Americans losing their health insurance every day, the AmeriCares Free Clinic of Norwalk is busier than ever, serving uninsured, low-income Fairfield County residents. What the adults and kids who go to the clinic don’t know is that one very important man is the muscle behind the magic that provides everything from vaccinations to labwork totaling more than $1.2 million in free medical care annually. His name is Dr. Jack Falsone.
“The clinic is like a one-stop shopping center,” says Dr. Falsone of Westport, who was born to Italian immigrants in Queens, New York, in 1923 and has now come full circle, helping today’s immigrants get medical care at a clinic that provides translators and has Saturday hours.
A former Norwalk Hospital assistant chief of pulmonary medicine, Dr. Falsone has volunteered since the clinic opened in 1994; he’s credited with recruiting two-thirds of the doctors who work gratis. The patient base consists mainly of working domestics. “They’re usually afraid to go to the hospital, even if it’s only three miles away,” says Dr. Falsone, medical director. That’s where modern telemedicine comes in—a doctor and patient at the clinic can consult with a Norwalk Hospital
specialist (who is also volunteering) via teleconference.
“It’s something a lot of us doctors do,” Dr. Falsone, says modestly of volunteering. “They’re my colleagues. I catch ’em in the elevator. I’m conning people all the time. Giving back to the community has always been the thing in medicine. In the old days before Medicare and Medicaid, everyone gave back.”
“Dr. Falsone is on a tireless crusade to provide high-quality care for the uninsured,” says Karen Gottlieb, executive director of the AmeriCares clinics in Norwalk, Bridgeport and Danbury. “He takes a personal interest in the patients. It’s that caring spirit that makes him such a standout.”
Though he may not corner you on an elevator, Dr. Falsone wants you to know that the clinics still need more doctors, nurses, administrative assistants, translators and screeners to donate their services.
Check americaresfreeclinics.org or call 800-486-4357.