When the world was younger and simpler, the family doctor’s office was a stark but dignified place, infused with antiseptic foreboding and the professional promise of personal care. The Norman Rockwell illustration “Before The Shot” depicts a young boy distracting himself by reading a diploma on the wall while a kindly doctor prepares an injection. It tells the story of how people used to feel about health care: a little bit fearful but confident that they were in good hands. We all still share the fear of illness, but these days not everyone enjoys the kind of confidence in the modern health care system that used to be found in the offices of our big-hearted family doctors. This is especially true for the poor and uninsured. Fortunately, some local doctors still have big hearts.

Dr Z. Michael Taweh of Newtown has a very big heart, which was tragically broken last August when he and his wife Jocelyne lost their 3-year-old son, Kevin, to an accident at home. Out of the immeasurable grief for a lost child grew an incredibly generous and noble enterprise, which will become a reality next month. Kevin’s Community Center, created to honor the memory of Kevin Taweh, will open in early August to provide free primary health care services for people in Newtown who are poor and uninsured. The clinic will be in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills and will be staffed by volunteers, who have signed up to provide their services free of charge to those who need them the most and can least afford to pay.

While Dr Taweh has provided much of the inspiration and energy to get Kevin’s Community Center off the ground, his efforts have been matched by local physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. They have eagerly agreed to donate their time and skills to serving families who until now have had to cope with illness and disease in a health care system that at times seems heartless and without much to offer to those who have neither money nor insurance. Danbury Hospital has even stepped forward to donate furnishings and equipment and laboratory services. And when the clinic is unable to provide medications free of charge, the Newtown Drug Center has offered to provide the clinic’s patients with prescription drugs at cost.

Even though volunteers will run the clinic, it will cost about $50,000 annually to operate Kevin’s Community Center. Individuals and local groups and organizations are invited to join this important community effort through financial donations and voluntarism. (See story on page B-6 this week to see how you can help.)

For those who are poor, uninsured, and sick, it is a daunting task to find a “big heart” in today’s health care system. Thanks to Dr Taweh and the many volunteers who have joined him in this local effort, the way is now clear.