RAM pop-up clinic provides free medical, dental, and vision care to uninsured and underinsured Americans

About one-third of Americans say they have skipped meals, borrowed money or cut utility bills to pay for medical bills. This was revealed in a Gallup poll released in March. The Trump administration is lowered the price About more than 50 drugs. But it also insurance premiums go up In the Afforable Care market — by a factor of 2 — it became the largest cut Until Medicaid. Three million people have already lost their insurance benefits, and it is estimated that this number will rise to 10 million in three years. All of this reminded us of a story from 2008 about a charity called Telecommunity Medicine. RAM began by parachuting doctors into the jungles of South America. But in the 1990s, the problem turned to another isolated population. Americans are no longer able to access health care because of cost. Recently, we returned to RAM’s free pop-up clinic. For Americans who have long suffered and lacked hope, RAM is a beacon of compassion in the darkness.

Parking lots in Knoxville, Tennessee, started filling up early. In a frigid February, many people drove hundreds of miles in desperation. Nearby Telecommunity Medicine had planned to open a clinic inside an empty exhibit hall. However, RAM can only accept a limited number of patients on weekends, so patients join the line several days in advance. I met Sandra Talent at 5am.

Scott Pelley: Sandra, where are you from?

Sandra Tallent: Huntsville, Alabama.

Scott Pelley: So how long were you in this parking lot?

Sandra Tallent: Wednesday nights from 4:30 p.m.

Scott Pelley: Wednesday night. So Wednesday night, Thursday night, and this is Friday morning.

I slept in my car for two nights and drove 200 miles, all because I didn’t have dental insurance.

Scott Pelley: How would you take care of your teeth without RAM?

Sandra Talent: I don’t think so.

A few spaces away, Dave Burge spent the night in his truck, suffering from a full set of dentures.

Scott Pelley: What happened to your teeth?

Dave Burge: There are a few things. An 80-year-old, uninsured, drunk driver ran a red light and nearly died in a head-on collision. After two years of rehabilitation and three surgeries, he was able to return to work at a cost of $140,000. One day, while I was at work drilling a hole in the basement wall, the drill got caught in the rebar, and it came around and hit me in the mouth, breaking my jaw and breaking my bones again. By that time, I was running pretty thin on money to do much about it. So I didn’t have much choice. I just kept working.

But it was rare to work. His construction employer assumes he lost his teeth to methamphetamine addiction. Burge said his only addictions were nicotine and caffeine. And now he can use the cup. He is wearing four layers of clothing for the 27 degree temperature.

Scott Pelley: What would you do without telemedicine?

Dave Burge: Suffering. There is no other way. They are changing lives.

Scott Pelley: It changed my life.

Dave Burge: When they give you your life back. It’s life changing. That’s what teeth mean to me. I could be a normal person again.

Scott Pelley: I certainly appreciate it.

Dave Burge: Yes, sir.

Scott Pelley: Thank you. Good luck.

He was lucky to be near the front of the line of 1,200 patients in Knoxville on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Brad Sands: Wait a minute, when you go there for the service, you have to take that ticket with you…

Brad Sands, a former paramedic, is the coordinator of the RAM clinic.

Patient: I’m number 4.

Brad Sands: Number 4, take the lead.

Scott Pelley: Who’s in the car?

Brad Sands: Hey everyone. So it’s your neighbors, it’s your parents, it’s your friends, it’s the community around you. It’s everyone. And it’s nationwide.

Somewhere in America, Brad Sands opens a clinic like this every weekend.

Scott Pelley: …Everyone comes, no questions asked.

Brad Sands: I don’t need insurance. You don’t even have to reveal your real name.

Scott Pelley: On the RAM expedition, we met a woman who was very grateful for the help she received. But she said, “I just don’t want to hear it.”

Brad Sands: I don’t mean to criticize your story. No one who works or volunteers here today is going to criticize anyone who walks through that door. We are here to help.

Approximately half of patients do not have insurance. The rest have insurance they can’t afford to use because of copays and deductibles.

Scott Pelley: And a lot of health insurance plans don’t have dental coverage.

Chris Hall: Yeah.

Scott Pelley: No vision care.

Chris Hall: Yeah.

Scott Pelley: No hearing care required.

Chris Hall: Yeah.

Chris Hall volunteered at RAM when he was 12 years old. Now he’s the CEO.

Chris Hall: So when we look at the patients that come through our doors, 65% of those patients are requesting dental services, 30% of those patients are requesting eye exams and glasses. Only 5% of people seek medical care. Dental and vision are two isolated things that people don’t have access to or can’t afford to have access to.

There are also tests for blood sugar levels, blood pressure, breast cancer, skin cancer, etc. Depending on the size of the clinic, RAM spends between $100,000 and $500,000 a weekend.

Scott Pelley: How do you pay for all this?

Chris Hall: It’s the generosity of the people. More than 81% of our supporters are individual donors, people who write checks of $5, $10, and $20 each month.

These checks are being utilized through donated clinic space, donated supplies, and volunteers, with 887 volunteers participating this weekend in Knoxville alone.

The medical professionals brought in medical students from 30 states at their own expense.

Doctors: Treat these patients with dignity and respect and talk to them like they are human beings.

Brad Sands: If you’ve lost faith in humanity, spend 10 minutes at the RAM Clinic. There will be hundreds of people out there donating their time. And they go out and save time and donate a lot of their own money to help their neighbors.

Glenn Goldstein: I remember years ago there was a guy who had a broken tooth. He then tried to remove it with a screwdriver. So if it doesn’t seem to help you, it’s hopeless.

Dentist Glenn Goldstein volunteered from New Jersey. He sees first-hand patients who have suffered in the past and have no hope for the future due to lack of access to medical care.

Glenn Goldstein: You know, I’ve had young people come in. “Yes, I don’t care. Please, I don’t have the money. There’s no way to fix these. So please, take them off.”

Patient: I have a lot of loose and broken teeth, so I’m going to have them all removed.

Glenn Goldstein: And having all your teeth removed is heartbreaking. That’s terrible.

Scott Pelley: Does the patient request that all teeth be removed?

GLENN GOLDSTEIN: It’s all in there.

Glenn Goldstein: Come on, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14…16″

Scott Pelley: Can’t we take care of them because they know what’s going to happen?

Glenn Goldstein: 100%.

Alleviating pain was the mission of RAM’s late founder, an eccentric Englishman, daredevil pilot, and Amazonian cowboy.

Scott Pelley: Please tell us about stan block.

Chris Hall: Stan was a great leader and a great guy. Humble.

We met Stan Block and RAM in 2008.

Stan is an adventurer who once walked through the Amazon for 26 days to treat an injury.

So he started an airborne medical charity using an Army surplus C-47 that flew on D-Day. When we met, he was 72 years old, had no family, received no salary, lived in an office donated to RAM, and showered with a garden hose. He died in his office in 2018.

Scott Pelley: He was probably the most dedicated person I’ve ever met.

Chris Hall: I completely agree with that. Stan often joked with the people he worked with that it was really hard to ask for time off when your boss hadn’t taken a day off in 20 years.

When we met in 2008, Stan Block was holding 12 clinics a year. After our broadcast, we raised $4 million in donations, along with thousands more volunteers. RAM has grown from 12 to 90 clinics in a year.

Glenn Goldstein: You and your story in 2008 almost brought me to tears. And as soon as your segment ended, I immediately went online and researched this organization and registered here. I’m from Jersey.

Scott Pelley: I understand that volunteering at RAM has become a family affair.

Glenn Goldstein: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, my son who is here with me now, my wife, my daughter-in-law, my daughter, my other son, all of us, they’ve all been here many times.

Scott Pelley: It sounds like you’re getting as much out of this as your patients are.

Glenn Goldstein: Probably more.

Remember Sandra Tallent, the woman we met in the car, and Dave Burge, who lost teeth in two accidents. They come here to have dentures made. Without the trailer and the 22-year-old engineer who helped build it, the process would have taken weeks. Connor Gibson uses computer design to create dentures on a 3D printer. You can print one set in about an hour. Gibson sleeps here to keep the printer running non-stop. He is inspired by what he calls “mirror moments.”

Connor Gibson: They say it’s worth a million dollars. But really it’s priceless. Give them that mirror and you’ll see all the stress melt away. And whether they’re 18 or 80, we see grown men sitting in chairs crying.

So did Dave Burge, who told us in the parking lot that he wanted to be a normal human being again.

Connor Gibson: You’re new.

Dave Burge: Thank you.

And the mirror smiled on Sandra Tallent.

Dentist: “Does it look good?”

Sandra Talent: Yeah.

Dentist: Are you happy?

Sandra Tallent: Yeah.

Scott Pelley: What does this moment mean to you?

Sandra Tallent: I don’t know what to do. You know, the Lord will make a way. But I feel like he broke through RAM.

Over the weekend in Knoxville, RAM saw more than 500 patients, helped 700 live pain-free, and restored 24 smiles. As millions of people lose their insurance coverage, RAM plans to rush to other cities to help ease America’s health care gap.

Volunteer: It’s beautiful.

Sandra Talent: Do you think I’m pretty?

Volunteer: Yes. It’s wonderful. Seriously, you look so pretty.

Sandra Tallent: Thanks for being here, honey.

Volunteer: Have a great day, have a great life!

Sandra Tallent: Get some sleep.

Produced by Henry Schuster and Sarah Turcotte. Broadcaster Michel Karim. Edited by Joe Schanzer.

in: