POSTED: Thursday, October 15, 2009 --- 4:15 p.m.

When family physician Aaron Dunn wanted to volunteer his time to help under-insured or uninsured people in the Iowa County area, he found out, there was no free clinic available. So, he put one together.

"We got a couple make shift rooms upstairs that had a lot to be desired. And it was just two of us doctors working every week," said Dunn.

Slowly the clinic attracted more volunteers and more people in need of care.

"Now we have a really nice team that allows us to spread the work around and help people in a meaningful way."

Thanks largely to a nearly half-million dollar grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, they can now help even more with a new building and a lot of equipment.

Said Wally Orzechowski with the Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program, "For people who have never had this type of care, this is an amazing and astounding experience and the quotations are, 'thank you' and 'congratulations this is amazing' and those types of things."

The clinic includes, medicare, dental and reproductive care. Since they originally opened a few years ago they've had 3,000 visits from more than 1,200 people.

"The severity of dental need is pretty high in the Dodgeville area. There are a lot of needs," added Errin Pfeifer DDS. "A lot of chronic conditions ongoing that we are trying to help them manage and get through."

"This is just a really special day. We are realizing a vision we have had since we started," concluded Dunn. "It is really exciting to see it come to reality."

On the dental side the clinic is only taking residents of Iowa County. As they expand they hope to be able to take in people from outside the county as well.

From the medical clinic it is the same, but they won't turn anyone away on the first visit.