DODGEVILLE, Wis. -- Dodgeville's free health clinic is bursting at the seams thanks to the nation's tanking economy.

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The Community Connections Clinic, which opened in October 2006, has a patient base of 1,200 local people and now, the facility is seeing more patients that ever.

"We've got Amish communities around here that take no government pay of any kind, have no insurance of any kind," said clinic manager Therese Hess. "We have farmers who cannot afford insurance."

That original need is why community leaders started the clinic. Now, the need is even greater, they said.

"Since January, I think, we're really seeing the effects of this economic problem that we have nationwide now," said Hess. "We're seeing more patients and the number of new patients we see every night is about double what it was last year."

Some patients arrive two hours before the clinic opens because they are seen a first-come, first-served basis, WISC-TV reported.

"They start coming in around 3:45 p.m.," said Hess. "It's not uncommon at all to see people out there having lunch or playing cards. They come in, register, and they're content to wait for an hour and a half or two hours so they could see a doctor."

The clinic, which is open two nights a week from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., can handle about 16 patients a night.

"We have had, on some occasions, had to triage our patients and maybe send some away and ask them to come back the next time," said Hess.

A staff of nine volunteer providers rotates through those days, as well as 80 other volunteers who do everything from nursing, lab work and pharmacy to reception and IT -- a far cry from the two providers and 12 volunteers the clinic opened with.

"People understand the cause," said clinic director Dr. Aaron Dunn. "It's a universal cause. It affects everybody and the community is just rallying around it. It's been heartwarming."

"I almost tear up when I talk about our volunteers," said Hess. "Most are coming in after a whole day's work and haven't eaten dinner because they have to be here by 5 p.m. to get things going."

Since the clinic opened, organizers had always planned to expand. The 500-square-feet used now houses two exam rooms, a lab, pharmacy, patient care and reception area -- not to mention cabinets for equipment and files. When the volunteers and patients are added, the tiny area is nearly impassable.

"We call it our MASH unit," joked Hess.

Construction is now under way in the basement of the Community Connections Clinic on a new space that will double the size and add a federally qualified dental clinic.

"By doubling our capacity from two to four exam rooms, we can have the same number of volunteers and see twice as many people," said Dunn.

"Health care affects everybody," said Dunn. "It doesn’t matter where you come from or what your political persuasion is or how old you are."

Dunn said he believes that common bond is what keeps volunteers coming through the door.

"Someone either has experienced being a victim of the broken system of health care or they know someone who has," he said. "This resonates with quite a lot of people."

Because of the common connection, Dunn said, the clinic has added many specialty doctors to its list of volunteers, including an optometrist, ophthalmologist, orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, occupational therapist and soon, they will add a mental health professional.

"We say to ourselves we're just going to keep working at it until we get it done and meet the need," said Dunn.

Despite working full time and volunteering, the men and women who make the clinic come to life leave energized.

"We all say that we come in tired and we go home feeling really great," said Hess.

The Community Connections Free Health Clinic will open doors on its new facility in June.