Medical Care, Third World Style

By: Kathy Gerber
Published On: 6/30/2006 6:22:38 AM

As more and more United States citizens join the rolls of the uninsured, how will basic medical care be provided?  Volunteer organizations are stretched to the max as they take on an ever increasing share of the heavy lifting.

Remote Area Medical+é-« (RAM) Volunteer Corps is a non-profit, volunteer, airborne relief corps dedicated to serving mankind by providing free health care, dental care, eye care, veterinary services, and technical and educational assistance to people in remote areas of the United States and the world.

There's a warning page on their web site.  In one photo a leopard considers pouncing a paddler in a dugout canoe.  In another someone struggles with a huge constrictor in a river.

RAM has been to Guyana and Honduras.  They conducted a Katrina disaster care lift.  One of the remote regions of the world that RAM serves is Wise County, Virginia.  Over the last six years, RAM has provide over $4.5 million worth of medical services to the community.


In a 2 1/2 day period in July, 2005, 980 RAM volunteers provided free medical care in a total of 6397 patient encounters at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia.

Dentists extracted 3476 bad teeth and filled 1023. General medical doctors gave 3799 consultations which included extensive lab procedures, pharmacy and telemedicine. 83 women received Mammograms. 22 pairs of complete dentures were made. There were 1109 eye examinations and 710 persons received free prescription eyeglasses, many of them made on site in the RAM mobile eyeglass lab.

The total value of free care delivered in 2 1/2 days was a staggering $1,382,914.00

In August 2004 the Bristol Herald Courier noted that the record pointed to a serious problem.


More than 6,000 people from our region received medical care, eyeglasses or dental work thanks to a group of tireless volunteers. It+óGé¼Gäós a new world record for Remote Area Medical, the Knoxville-based group that has been putting on free medical clinics in Wise County and around the world for years. The record should be a point of pride for the clinic+óGé¼Gäós organizers and some 900 volunteers. They didn+óGé¼Gäót have to give their time and services to help folks they don+óGé¼Gäót even know, but they did it anyway. That+óGé¼Gäós commendable. But the record-setting crowd also points out some troubling problems for our region and the nation. It points to flaws in our health care system, which has left many of the working poor and some even in the lower middle class uninsured.

It also points to continued economic hardship in some corners of Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and Kentucky. Clearly, there are those among us who are not sharing in the nation+óGé¼Gäós economic recovery or the pronounced economic growth of other parts of Virginia. It wasn+óGé¼Gäót convenience that brought more than 6,000 of our neighbors to the three-day clinic at the Wise County Fairgrounds. Many arrived hours before the event began and some even spent the night waiting for their chance to see the doctor. For some, this might be the only chance they have to receive routine medical, dental or vision care this year. And for those suffering chronic ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, that+óGé¼Gäós a prescription for trouble down the road. For the chronically ill, regular medical care is a necessity to avoid costly and dangerous complications.

The problem is multifaceted and it defies simple solutions. Some of those who came to the clinic may need help applying for safety net government health programs already in place. Others make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford needed care. And, dental care and vision care often are not covered by insurance. The problem for others is access. In some of our poorest counties, doctors +óGé¼GÇ£ particularly specialists +óGé¼GÇ£ are scarce.

While area hospitals and the Quillen College of Medicine are working to turn out more doctors interested in a rural practice, the need is still there. Then, there+óGé¼Gäós the basic problem: the economy. Some of the coal counties still have unemployment rates that are much higher than those in other parts of Virginia. And, those who do have jobs often find they don+óGé¼Gäót pay enough to afford more than the bare necessities of life. We hear that health care and the lack of health insurance will be campaign issues for both the Democrats and Republicans. Let+óGé¼Gäós hope that+óGé¼Gäós true. This is an issue and a need that+óGé¼Gäós not going away, and someone needs to come up with a creative solution. Otherwise, the number of our friends and neighbors forced to rely on charity for basic medical care will only grow with each passing year.

RAM's events will probably break records again this year.  Among the many remaining 2006 RAM events, there are two Virginia expeditions on the schedule.

July 28-30:  Wise County, VA at Wise Fair Grounds
Oct. 14-15:  Grundy, VA at Riverview Elementary School


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