JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Dr. Tom Hilton is a cardiologist at Baptist Beaches Medical Center, and is our Hero Next Door. Once a month, Dr. Hilton volunteers and renders free service to the uninsured and under insured at Beaches Community Health Care Clinic.
"The health care system in the United States is fractured. It is broken. In the meantime, we need a solution and volunteerism has got be a part of that solution," said Dr. Hilton.
Dr. Hilton said there is an epidemic with cardiovascular disease across the United States and it claims more lives than that of all the cancers combined.
"I can either sit around and complain about the health care system or I can be a small part of the solution," said Dr. Hilton.
Dr. Hilton has been helping the poor for the last two years. He saved a man's life; a man who had a job, but his employer did not offer health insurance.
"I try to remind myself of that when I serve the poor, just help them. Think about they have a mother, they have a father and I try to think about their parents. What they'd want me to do," he said.
Dr. Hilton said the most rewarding part about volunteering is to know that he's part of the solution.
"There's a team of people who show up here and try to help people and I'm part of that team," Dr. Hilton said. "If volunteering drained my energy I wouldn't do it. I believe that's the way our conscious speaks to us about where we can be of most service. When we come out of the experience feeling charged up, then we're in the right situation."
