The Tileston Health Clinic was started in 1991 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Wilmington,  NC by three physicians from the parish, Dr. Mary O'Brien, Dr. A Knox, and Dr. Victor Nava,  assisted by Sister Issac Koenig. The doctors wanted to satisfy a need in the community to provide free medical care for people in the community without health insurance and to those whose income fell within the federal poverty guidelines.   

The new clinic attracted many patients and grew rapidly.  It soon found a home in the basement of the old landmark Tileston School building, located across from the church on Ann Street. Through the years, the Tileston Health Clinic continued to expand, and in 2007, it moved to its present location in the medical campus on Doctors Circle and Cypress Grove Drive.  The campus is a gift from a generous Wilmington family.   

In August 2011, we changed our name to Cape Fear Clinic, Inc. to better represent the community we serve; today the clinic provides chronic care to patients living in New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender and Columbus counties who otherwise would receive inadequate medical care or no health care at all.  The patient population is approximately 24% Hispanic, 23% African-American, 50% Caucasian and 3% other.  The clinic serves all who seek services with no regard to ethnicity or creed.