Editor's note: This story initially appeared in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of Duke Nursing magazine.

Christy Bell, the father of alumna Liz Bell, BSN’08, MSN’12, has retired from his career in health insurance and health care administration. But he is still working hard to improve health care delivery, particularly to those most in need.

A member of the School of Nursing Board of Visitors since 2009, Bell moved to Southport, North Carolina, about 10 years ago. Soon after arriving, the priest at his new church asked him to serve on the board of the New Hope Clinic. The New Hope Clinic, founded in 1998, offers free medical, dental, and pharmaceutical care five days a week to low-income and uninsured residents of Brunswick County.

“It’s remarkable,” Bell says. “They have over 150 volunteers, including a dozen each of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists.”

New Hope Clinic is located in Southport, with a satellite clinic in Shallotte. Today, Bell serves as the chair of the board and helps with tasks including supporting the executive director, carrying out strategic planning, recruiting volunteers, and raising funds. “Of the funds raised, 94% goes directly to medical care; we have about 6% overhead,” he says. “People know, when they are making a donation, it’s going directly to patient care.”

Bell says the clinic, which is supported in part by The Duke Endowment and Duke Health, has made a huge difference in the lives of people who live in Brunswick County. Not only has the clinic improved the health of its patients, but it’s also helped reduce the number of ER visits by uninsured patients who had no primary care doctor.

“I’m very enthusiastic about the clinic in part because I’ve seen and heard patient stories and the difference it makes in patients’ lives,” he says. “When you see that, it’s hard not to be enthusiastic.”