The campus of Vance Charter School will be a beehive of activity in a couple of weekends when it hosts a pop-up clinic to provide free medical care to anyone in the community.
Yep, that’s right. Free medical care, ranging from general physical exams to dental and vision care. The clinic will see patients beginning at 6 a.m. on Saturday, May 14 and again at 6 a.m. on Sunday, May 15 at VCS, located at 2090 Ross Mill Rd.
Did we mention that it’s free? Patients who wish to get a tooth filled or get new glasses need only show up. Services are first come, first served, and two of the clinic organizers spoke with John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk to provide details.
The pop-up clinics help people from falling through the cracks in the medical system. No id? No problem. No insurance? No worries. The parking lot will open at midnight on Friday, May 13. The process is as simple as showing up and waiting in line.
That’s the message from Duke seniors Rishabh Jain and Rishi Dasgupta, who have worked for months with a team of dozens of other volunteers to bring the Remote Area Medical (RAM) to the Vance County area.
“It’s been absolutely incredible to get the level of support in the community,” Jain said. Capt. Derrick Smith with the local Salvation Army was instrumental in connecting the clinic organizers with Dr. Brian Mathis at VCS, who offered the campus as the site for the clinic.
RAM, a major nonprofit provider based in Tennessee, has been hosting pop-up medical clinics across the Southeast for four decades; this clinic marks the seventh clinic that the Duke organizers will have visited since they first got involved with RAM.
Originally planned to be held in Durham, the organizers switched gears when they realized that there were underserved areas – especially in the area of vision and dental care – so close to Durham.
That’s when plans to host a clinic outside the Durham area took shape.
There will be numerous community organizations at the 2-day clinic to share resources and information. Patients may combine medical services with either vision or dental on one day, but they are not able to combine vision and dental, because of the high volume expected. Patients who need vision and dental care can return on the second day of the clinic.
Patients also will get an information sheet to help them access follow-up care if necessary and both organizers said they have identified health care professionals in the area who have agreed to do the follow-up care at a reduced fee or at no cost.
The clinic is completely staffed with highly qualified professionals who volunteer their services. The providers at the Henderson clinic are coming from across the country to participate.
Jain and Dasgupta expect to see hundreds of patients during the clinic, and Dasgupta said ithe stories of the patients that stick with him – people’s faces who are relieved of pain from an infected tooth or the delight of seeing clearly after being fitted with eyeglasses, Dasgupta said
his experiences have been rewarding and fulfilling.
Learn more about volunteering and sponsoring the clinic at www.ramusa.org or phone 865.579.1530.
Details on the Pop Up Medical Clinic coming to Henderson on May 14th and 15th.
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