by Bernadette Gillis

Until about five years ago Jack Kennedy, T’73, MD’77, says his priorities in life were a little mixed up. He had spent more time focused on career than on family or helping his community.

But by the time two friends approached him in 2002 about leading the effort to raise funds to build a Christian health clinic in Marietta, Ga., things were different.

“I started looking at my life and began praying about things that I needed to change,” Kennedy says.

While the clinic idea seemed in line with his new outlook on life, Kennedy wasn’t completely sure if he was the right person for the job. Despite having started a successful surgical practice many years before, he knew nothing about building a nonprofit from the ground up. He says he truly believes the only reason he agreed to become chairman of the clinic’s board of
directors was because he felt that something much larger than himself was at work.

“Would there be any reason to believe a surgeon with no fundraising experience could lead an effort to open a clinic in four years without something supernatural
going on?” he says.

The clinic, Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb, opened its doors in April 2006,
offering a place for uninsured patients in the Marietta area (located outside of Atlanta) to go for affordable medical and dental care, health education, and social services. Patients are charged on a sliding scale based on income and family size.

"I started looking at my life and began praying about things that I needed to change.”

During its first eight months of operation, Good Samaritan Cobb provided $600,000 in medical services for 3,000 patients.

Kennedy says the true value of the services provided is far greater. The clinic gives patients a place to call their medical home—something many have not had before.

“We’re not a walk-in clinic,” Kennedy says. “We’re more like a family practice clinic. We want our patients to build relationships with their providers.”

These relationships often go beyond receiving a prescription or treatment for a physical illness, such as diabetes. “We do not just treat their diabetes, but we help our patients with any mental health problems or spiritual needs,” says Kennedy.

Good Samaritan Cobb is open to patients of all faiths and has been well received by many in Cobb County and surrounding communities. Kennedy says the clinic has gotten support from leaders of both religious and secular organizations.

After only the first month of fund raising in 2004, the board made a commitment of $400,000. Then over the next year and a half, Kennedy met with numerous foundations, organizations, and individuals, garnering support from nearly all. By the end of the fundraising campaign in December 2005, the clinic had raised $3.5 million—$700,000 more than the original goal.

Although Kennedy has received accolades for his work with Good Samaritan Cobb, including a community service award from the Medical Association of Georgia, he has decided to step down as chairman. He’ll remain involved a few hours each week as a member of the board and looks forward to spending more time with his wife Maurine, who he says is the source of much of his success.

After many years as a stay at home mom, Maurine recently returned to her career as a nurse and now works full time in radiation therapy. His son Chris, T’05, is a freshman at Duke Law School, and son Daniel, T’05, works in London as an associate consultant at Marakon Associates.

“Without my wife and the support of the boys, I could have never been able to accomplish a fraction of things that I have,” he says. “Having that support is one of the best blessings you can get in life.”