2025 Free Clinic Nurse of the Year
The Charitable Healthcare Network is proud to recognize Karen Frey, RN, as the 2025 Free Clinic Nurse of the Year, celebrating her lifelong commitment to patient care and service to the Hope Clinic of Ross County. For the past 13 years, Karen has been foundational to the clinic, someone patients trust, volunteers rely on, and colleagues admire.
Karen’s commitment to healthcare began long before she entered the world of free clinics. She started her career as an EMT in high school, quickly discovering that caring for others was not just an interest but a calling. In 1975, she began her nursing career at Adena Health System, where she served for over 35 years in Labor and Delivery, OB-GYN practices, and pediatric telephone triage. During her tenure, she earned her Certification in Inpatient Obstetrics and took on roles such as staff nurse, charge nurse, preceptor, childbirth educator, and office educator.
After retiring from Adena, a former physician colleague introduced Karen to the Hope Clinic of Ross County, located in Chillicothe, which is a faith-based medical clinic providing basic medical and dental care to those with no insurance in a holistic and welcoming environment at no charge to the patient. The clinic is open on Monday evenings from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. In 2021, the organization expanded with the opening of the Hope Clinic Charitable Pharmacy.
Moved by the Hope Clinic’s mission, Karen began volunteering in 2012—the year the clinic opened—and has since become a cornerstone of its operations. Today, she serves as the clinic’s Nursing Director, though that title only hints at the breadth of her work. On any given clinic night, Karen can be found greeting patients, preparing charts, orienting new volunteers, assisting with lab setups, completing medication assistance applications, and stepping in wherever she’s needed until the rest of the team arrives.
“She is absolutely key to so many things that take place at the clinic,” said Jeannette VanBuskirk, executive director of Hope Clinic of Ross County.
“It may be a free clinic, but Karen treats the tasks as though she were paid a million dollars to perform them. There is no task too big or too small, and she has never hesitated to spend time on projects outside of the ‘nursing’ realm if her help was needed,” she added.
For Karen, the greatest reward comes from seeing patients get the care they need and witnessing their health improve.
“There are so many ‘thank yous’… ‘I would not be able to get my medicine without your help,’ or ‘I don’t know what I would do without the clinic,’” she said.
Her service is rooted in empathy, shaped by her ability to “see the need in our community in a new depth” and help spread “hope” to those the clinic serves. Her commitment extends beyond clinic hours as well. Karen and her husband, Martin, volunteer as a team. She leads patient care and scheduling while he manages maintenance and behind-the-scenes needs. Together, their dedication has become essential to the clinic’s operations.
Stories like Karen’s embody what makes free clinic volunteers extraordinary—their generosity, humanity, and belief that everyone deserves quality care. Each year during Free Clinic Appreciation Month, the Charitable Healthcare Network honors individuals whose service strengthens Ohio’s healthcare safety net.
Please join us in congratulating Karen Frey as the 2025 Free Clinic Nurse of the Year. Karen and all of this year’s honorees will be celebrated at the Free Clinic Appreciation Awards Reception on April 29, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio.
For more information about the event, please visit: https://www.charitablehealthcarenetwork.org/who-we-are/what-we-do/free-clinic-appreciation-month.html
