Years ago Andy and I watched Wild Kingdom and laughed because the star, Merlin Perkins who was older, used to send this big strapping guy on ahead to wrestle the lions, tame the snakes and do the dirty work. This man, the greater of the two, saw the need to service rural America when he retired with free medical care. People line up two days in advance and wait to receive one of the sought after numbers (1600 for the day.) They stay through rain and bad weather afraid to lose their spot in line to get a number. Hundreds are turned away to wait another day or year hoping to be one of the lucky ones next time. I have heard and seen the information on many needy organizations and used to actually rebel against United Way, because the money wandered here and there and sometimes got in the wrong pockets and serviced some organizations that needed to service themselves. 100% of the money you give R A M goes to the rural America citizens of OUR country. I am from rural America and I can say these people are among the most honest, helpful people you would ever want to meet. When I die, I don't want flowers, I want the money to go to R A M. I don't want birthday or Christmas presents, I want the money to service rural Americans who are truly in need of free medical care. The volunteer doctors and nurses and workers take no salary and enjoy no luxuries while serving the needy. This is the most worthy cause that I have ever encountered. This is the cause that people like the Kardashions, who gave a one year old baby a $60,000 one of a kind purse for her first birthday, should be supporting. (That money could have bought 6 more dental stations.) It is simply unconscionable to think these kinds of things go on in America while we nanny the rest of the world and the celebrities nanny themselves.
Mobile Clinics: Stan Brock founder and president
Remote Area Medical provides medical care through mobile clinic events in under served, isolated, or impoverished communities. Most clinics provide general medical, dental, vision, preventive care, and education unless otherwise indicated such as veterinarian services. Find a clinic near you here:
On line...
RAMUSA.org
or
Mail gifts to:
RAM
2200 Stock Creek Blvd
Rockford, TN 37853
or
call gift in: 865 579 1530
Recently, 60 Minutes heard 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.
As correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last March, Remote Area Medical sets up emergency clinics where the needs are greatest. But these days that's not the Amazon. This charity founded to help people who can't reach medical care finds itself throwing America a lifeline.
In a matter of hours, Remote Area Medical set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Tools for dentists were laid out by the yard, optometrists prepared to make hundreds of pairs of glasses, general medical doctors set up for whatever might come though the door. Nearly everything is donated, and everyone is a volunteer. The care is free. But no one could say how many patients might show up.
The first clue came a little before midnight, when Stan Brock, the founder of Remote Area Medical, opened the gate outside. The clinic wouldn't open for seven hours, but people in pain didn't want to chance being left out. State guardsmen came in for crowd control. They handed out what would become precious slips of paper - numbered tickets to board what amounted to a medical lifeboat.
It was 27 degrees. The young and the old would spend the night in their cars, running the engine for heat, but not much - not at $3 a gallon. At 5 a.m., Pelley took a walk through the parking lot.
"We got up at three o'clock this morning and we got here about four. We've been out where a little while it's cold," Margaret Walls, a hopeful patient from
Tennessee, told Pelley.
"Why did you come so early?" Pelley asked.
"'Cause we wanted to be seen," Walls replied.
Marty Tankersley came with his wife and his daughter, asleep behind the front seats. Tankersley says he drove some 200 miles to get to the clinic and slept in the parking lot for hours.
"Just to have this done?" Pelley asked.
"Yes, sir. I've been in some very excruciating pain," he replied.
Tankersley had an infected tooth that had been killing him for weeks. Most of the people who filled the lot heard about the clinic on the news or by word of mouth, and they came by the hundreds.
Note: I have been searching for the negative on R A M and have come up empty. I am glad to have received their catalogue in the mail today because after the 60 Minutes story on this organization years ago, I had lost contact after having sent a check. It was like Christmas for me today to receive word from them through the catalogue telling me this was not a flash in the pan, they are still doing their good work and even expanding. I have sent them another check today. Bless all their hearts.
Recently, 60 Minutes heard 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.
As correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last March, Remote Area Medical sets up emergency clinics where the needs are greatest. But these days that's not the Amazon. This charity founded to help people who can't reach medical care finds itself throwing America a lifeline.
In a matter of hours, Remote Area Medical set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Tools for dentists were laid out by the yard, optometrists prepared to make hundreds of pairs of glasses, general medical doctors set up for whatever might come though the door. Nearly everything is donated, and everyone is a volunteer. The care is free. But no one could say how many patients might show up.
The first clue came a little before midnight, when Stan Brock, the founder of Remote Area Medical, opened the gate outside. The clinic wouldn't open for seven hours, but people in pain didn't want to chance being left out. State guardsmen came in for crowd control. They handed out what would become precious slips of paper - numbered tickets to board what amounted to a medical lifeboat.
It was 27 degrees. The young and the old would spend the night in their cars, running the engine for heat, but not much - not at $3 a gallon. At 5 a.m., Pelley took a walk through the parking lot.
"We got up at three o'clock this morning and we got here about four. We've been out where a little while it's cold," Margaret Walls, a hopeful patient from
Tennessee, told Pelley.
"Why did you come so early?" Pelley asked.
"'Cause we wanted to be seen," Walls replied.
Marty Tankersley came with his wife and his daughter, asleep behind the front seats. Tankersley says he drove some 200 miles to get to the clinic and slept in the parking lot for hours.
"Just to have this done?" Pelley asked.
"Yes, sir. I've been in some very excruciating pain," he replied.
Tankersley had an infected tooth that had been killing him for weeks. Most of the people who filled the lot heard about the clinic on the news or by word of mouth, and they came by the hundreds.
Note: I have been searching for the negative on R A M and have come up empty. I am glad to have received their catalogue in the mail today because after the 60 Minutes story on this organization years ago, I had lost contact after having sent a check. It was like Christmas for me today to receive word from them through the catalogue telling me this was not a flash in the pan, they are still doing their good work and even expanding. I have sent them another check today. Bless all their hearts.
