exists. We cannot have our Black men in the community with no insurance, having health issues, but are afraid to go and seek help because a lot of guys say, ‘Aaron, you want me to voluntarily go and get a $500 bill that I cannot pay? I’ll take my chances.’ By establishing this free clinic, no one needs to take their chances anymore. This is their medical home now.”

In the first few weeks, the clinic had 14 men come through their doors looking for assistance. Perry expects the numbers to grow as the word gets out.

“We have had more men ask us — men with insurance — if they can see their doctor in our clinic,” Perry said. “‘Can I see my doctor at The Perry Family Free Clinic?’ We know that they have great insurance. We have to tell them, ‘You have good insurance. We have to be careful because we can’t start seeing men with insurance because of the model and the brand.’ But the fact that Black men are asking us if they can see their doctor here clearly states we are in the right place. But again, having those first few men who came in, getting the service, walking out of the examination room with the doctor and everyone is laughing and just having a conversation, there was no stress involved. We were not looking at the clock.”

While the clinic exists, in large part, to serve the medical needs of Black men, Howard envisions the clinic to be a springboard to engage Black men in healthier lifestyles, utilizing the full array of physical activity to stay fit and live longer.

“We’re trying to get people out and engaged in activities that would actually extend the life expectancy because that has been an area where we just haven’t been involved in,” Howard emphasized. “As you know, my background is in the USDA Forest Service. And one of the things that we’ve done for decades is try to get Black people out into the woods because of the mental and physical benefits of doing that. That is very important. So when we start talking about Black Men Run and Black Men Walk, that hit right at home for me because that is something as a professional have been trying to do for many, many decades. Now you have organizations of Black skiers. We didn’t hear about that when we were kids. And so we have to engage each other. We have to engage Black people to say, ‘Look, there are many things out here we need to get engaged in to extend our life expectancies.’ At the end of our lives, maybe we won’t need as much healthcare. And it’s a great thing that we have here for those who don’t have the insurance. But let us also look at the front end and whether or not we are doing the things that are necessary to make sure we stay healthy over our lifetimes.”

Conley agreed.

“I knew exercise was good way back,” Conley emphasized. “I was riding bicycles 30-40 years ago. People would look at me and say, ‘Look at that Black dude ride a bike.’ I rode my bike from the West Coast to the East Coast, 3,750 miles in 50 days. We went over the Cascade and Grand Teton Mountains. We saw Mt. Rushmore and the Green Mountains in New York. I rode my bike from Bangor, Maine to Quebec, Canada, Minneapolis to Chicago, and Buffalo to Albany. I knew this was beneficial to me and you get to see the country up close and get to meet a whole bunch of different people. What I was doing with the biking, I would go to Goodman Community Center in the summertime and work with kids 7-8-years-old. I would take them for a 3-4 mile bike ride along the bike path. Exercise is good. It’s just like a car and preventative maintenance. You know when your car is not running right, so you take it to a mechanic. Your body knows when something is wrong and then you need to go see a doctor.”

Perry stated that the clinic has a 15-passenger bus to make sure that Black men, no matter where they live, can take advantage of the clinic. Perry and the others are bound and determined to move the needle on the life expectancy of Black men. Through exercise of all kinds and a healthcare setting designed with Black men in mind, Black men should be in a better place in the future.