Become Apart of Remote Area Medical

[wisconsindoctor]

I came across this today. http://insicknessinhealth.blogspot.com/2008/03/retiree-couples-need-225000-for-health.html

"Musings:
How many retiring couples have this kind of money set aside for health care? Certainly not the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Not to mention the millions more who are underinsured.

I recently saw a segment on the TV show 60 Minutes about an American relief organization that airdrops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon. It's called Remote Area Medical or "RAM" for short. However this time, RAM set up a treatment facility not in a faraway jungle but in Knoxville, Tennessee. Over the course of one day RAM saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings. 400 people were turned away.
I think this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr. says it well:
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

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[wisconsindoctor]

I came across this today. http://insicknessinhealth.blogspot.com/2008/03/retiree-couples-need-225000-for-health.html

"Musings:
How many retiring couples have this kind of money set aside for health care? Certainly not the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Not to mention the millions more who are underinsured.

I recently saw a segment on the TV show 60 Minutes about an American relief organization that airdrops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon. It's called Remote Area Medical or "RAM" for short. However this time, RAM set up a treatment facility not in a faraway jungle but in Knoxville, Tennessee. Over the course of one day RAM saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings. 400 people were turned away.
I think this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr. says it well:
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

From the RAM website:

"Past Expedition At the expedition on Jan. 5-6 in Knoxville TN, RAM brought 1343 free services to people. There were 504 eyeglasses provided, 1066 teeth extracted and 567 fillings done. There were 276 volunteers. The total value of free care was $235,497.00."

 

[alleyesonme]

I volunteered at the RAM Wise, VA clinic last year and over a Fri-Sun clinic, the numbers were crazy. People lined up in the hundreds at 4AM in the cold, many had slept all night in their cars after driving 5-6 hours. One couple drove over 12 hours! Overall: >5000 medical encounters, 7000 dental encounters, 1000 vision encounters with 1000 prescription glasses issued, with a net cost of over $1 million!!! This years dates are July 25-27 in Wise, VA. RAM has quite a buzz going, being covered first by the New York Times, and subsequently by 60 Minutes....

 

[Miami_med]

I came across this today. http://insicknessinhealth.blogspot.com/2008/03/retiree-couples-need-225000-for-health.html

"Musings:
How many retiring couples have this kind of money set aside for health care? Certainly not the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Not to mention the millions more who are underinsured.

I recently saw a segment on the TV show 60 Minutes about an American relief organization that airdrops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon. It's called Remote Area Medical or "RAM" for short. However this time, RAM set up a treatment facility not in a faraway jungle but in Knoxville, Tennessee. Over the course of one day RAM saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings. 400 people were turned away.
I think this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr. says it well:
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

Since this group managed to perform hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical procedures with no government help with a few volunteers, it seems more likely that it is an example of how a motivated private group can be more efficient that than the best funded of government "charities."

What it does show is that we could pretty effectively provide basic care for very little money to the uninsured IF we could operate without the regulatory burdens and legal environment that currently inhibits this sort of activity from occurring all over the country. I know that here, we put on community health fairs completely on donated time, and the fear of legal ramifications almost shut us down.