The Remote Area Medical pop-up clinic that set up shop back in May provided $186,000 in free medical, dental and vision care to people who attended the weekend event.
Saajan Patel and Anvi Charvu, both upperclassmen at Duke University, helped to organize the two-day clinic and provided a follow-up report on Thursday’s The Local Skinny!
“The clinic went really well,” Patel said.
Health professionals were able to attend to 230 different patients who came to the parking lot of Vance Charter School where the pop-up clinic was held.
In addition to many children seeing a doctor for the first time, Patel said there were 30 dental cleanings performed, 92 tooth extractions and 140 pairs of glasses made on the spot to give to those in need.
This is the second year that RAM has had a clinic in Henderson, and Charvu attributed this year’s success to having more volunteers to help things run more efficiently and smoother.
“Our first year, we had a limited number of volunteers, so we had a limited capacity,” Charvu said. This year, clients could pretty much walk in and be served, she added.
Duke sophomore Grace Wang is helping to plan next year’s clinic, which will most likely take place in February 2024. Wang said she was impressed with the “amazing energy” of the volunteers and the health professionals who provided the care during the May clinic.
Don’t want to wait until February? There’s a RAM clinic at Nash Central High School in Rocky Mount this weekend, Patel said.
The pop-up clinics are “band aid” solutions to the overarching challenge of health care inequities, Patel said. RAM clinics are free and open to anyone – with or without insurance.
The May clinic demographics broke down like this: 48 percent of clients were African American, 20 percent were Hispanic; 79 percent had not completed a college degree and 64 percent had neither dental nor vision insurance.
“We want to continue expanding and educating everyone” on how to solve the challenge of health care inequity, Patel said. Wang said the RAM organizers are partnering with local agencies like the health department, Triangle North Healthcare Foundation and others to help make a difference.
“We want to support the health of this county in more ways than one,” Wang said.
Visit www.ramusa.org to learn more or to view the clinic schedule.
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