Tri-Cities Regional Area Medical Clinic set for April at BMS

Some 2,000 uninsured and underinsured residents – particularly those who need major dental care -- are expected to be treated during a Tri-Cities Regional Area Medical Clinic set for April at Bristol Motor Speedway, officials said Tuesday.

“The dental needs in our community have never been greater than they are this very day,” Joseph Smiddy, a Kingsport pulmonologist and longtime medical-mission volunteer, said during a news conference at BMS to announce the clinic, which will be held by the Tri-Cities RAM organization.

Smiddy said that while the clinic will only run two days, it will help ease the crushing burden on many area community clinics that work daily to provide free or low-cost dental treatment to thousands lacking adequate insurance.

“Many of them are overwhelmed,” Smiddy said of the community clinics, noting that several have waiting lists of 100 people urgently seeking dental treatment, including major surgery and multiple extractions of teeth.

Officials expressed confidence Tuesday that there will be far more volunteer dentists for April’s RAM event than appeared during the first clinic hosted by BMS in October 2010, which was held at the same time as a national dental conference.

During that initial RAM clinic, an estimated 80 percent of attending patients were there to seek dental treatment. Some 300 patients had to be turned away on the first day, largely because there weren’t enough dentists on hand to realistically handle the demand.

 “It’s looking much better for us this time,” Helen Scott, executive director of Healing Hands Health Center and chairwoman for April’s Tri-Cities RAM, said regarding hopes of drawing more dentists and dental volunteers.

 Scott said RAM officials consciously planned the 2012 event “for [spring] so we do not conflict” with any potential dental conferences.

In addition to dental treatment, vision, general-medical and hearing care will be provided.

 RAM USA founder and Operations Director Stan Brock, whose Knoxville-based mission is helping oversee the Bristol event, praised the Tri-Cities community for taking the united, aggressive steps needed to conduct effective RAM clinics that help residents lacking medical coverage.

“You have to have a community that’s willing to participate, and [the Tri-Cities] has had a tremendous response from so many,” Brock said. “This isn’t a Remote Area Medical. It’s a community event.”

Brock, Scott and other RAM officials said it is critical that they draw huge numbers of volunteers – both medical and non-medical – so the event runs smoothly and effectively.

Brock praised Tennessee for being one of the first states to allow licensed physicians from anywhere in the country to serve as temporary medical volunteers at RAM clinics inside the state.

“[More states] should be able to bring in volunteers from across the country,” Brock said.

During the 2010 Tri-Cities RAM, about 865 medical volunteers took part and provided $537,000 worth of medical care to some 1,307 patients, Tri-Cities RAM officials estimated.

rbrown@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2512

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Tri-Cities Regional Area Medical Clinic

• When: April 14-15
• Time: Begins at 6 a.m. on both days.
• Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
• What: Weekend medical clinic providing free dental, vision, hearing and other general medical services to underinsured and uninsured residents across the Tri-Cities. Several hundred volunteers are expected to take part in providing care. There are no eligibility, income or other requirements for patients to receive medical treatment, they must simply show up.
• Details: For additional information, call the RAM hotline at (423) 573-0695 or visit www.ramusa.org.