Hundreds coming to Oak Ridge for free RAM clinic this weekend

Donna Smith, Oakridger
·3 min read

Remote Area Medical will be opening a clinic at the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday to provide free medical, dental and vision services to people in need, many of them the "working poor."

The parking lot for the free health services will open at 11:59 p.m. Friday - but don't be surprised to see people parking in the lot at the Civic Center and nearby as early as 7 p.m. Friday. Chris Cannon, media relations coordinator, said many will be sleeping in their vehicles to ensure they'll be among the first in line. Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

The need for the free services is great.

A volunteer dental professional does a dental procedure on a patient at a Remote Area Medical's past clinic.
A volunteer dental professional does a dental procedure on a patient at a Remote Area Medical's past clinic.

There are approximately 6,640 residents in Anderson County alone who are both in poverty and uninsured, according to Billy Edmonds, executive director of the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge, which is the community host group for the RAM clinic. The clinic is open to anyone, not just the people of Anderson County. Many of the people who will be showing up for services, he said, are the "working poor" - people who are working but uninsured or underinsured.

Hundreds of medical professionals - some of them local, others from across the nation - are coming in to volunteer.

"Unfortunately, we do not have a set ending time at night," Cannon said when asked when the clinic would close each day. "Based on the number of volunteers we have on a clinic day, our clinic coordinators can determine the capacity of that clinic. Once we reach that capacity for the day, we will 'close the doors.' ... Once we reach capacity, we cannot take more patients for the day, but services will still be happening. Those in line before we reach capacity will still be seen throughout the day. Sunday is typically a half-day, as we will have to break everything down and load it onto the truck.

"Our goal is to see as many patients as we can," he said.

Free Medical Clinic (FMC) has committed more than $50,000 "to make sure all volunteers, partners and patients have all that is needed for quality care and a successful event," said Edmonds, who served with the late RAM founder Stan Brock as the nonprofit's chief development officer. Free Medical Clinic was the main driver behind getting RAM to do the clinic and has done all the planning, training and coordination to make it possible, he said. The clinic also will provide follow-up care to patients needing it.

As a part of Free Medical Clinic's efforts to increase community health and decrease health disparities, Edmonds said, FMC officials and volunteers knew they needed "the powerhouse of RAM to help address these vital concerns of our communities. FMC is already in planning for a 2024 Medical Event, tentatively at the RSCC Harriman Campus in Roane County."

Partnering with FMC and RAM are Covenant Health, Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge and Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services.

Edmonds thanked the city of Oak Ridge for its involvement and offered a reminder that such free health services, including the day-to-day services offered by FMC to the people of Anderson, Roane and Morgan counties, continue throughout the year with donations. People can find out more about FMC and donate at fmcor.org. Likewise, RAM needs donations at ramusa.org.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed. Support The Oak Ridger by subscribing. Offers available at https://subscribe.oakridger.com/offers.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Hundreds coming to Oak Ridge for free RAM clinic