Remote Area Medical Clinic Set for Return This Weekend

Remote Area Medical clinic
When: Friday through Sunday
When: 6 a.m. to as late as possible each day
Where: Wise County Fairgrounds, Wise, Va.
What: Provides free medical treatment, including vision and dental care, hearing, dermatology, lung, bone-density tests, men’s and women’s health services, mammograms, osteopathic, lab and pharmacy services. 
Details: Call the Health Wagon at (276) 835-9474.

BRISTOL, Va. – A year ago, Dorothy Taulbee went to the Southwest Virginia Health Wagon’s Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise.

She went with a personal health checklist set firmly in her mind.

She wanted to get a mammogram and pap smear. She needed to learn if she could get better eyeglasses. And she wanted to have a pinky finger, swollen from cysts, checked out.

But what Taulbee, 71, ended up getting at the RAM clinic a year ago went far beyond her checklist.

She got a second chance at life when a prescreening test revealed she had cancer in her right lung.

It was a shocking and upsetting discovery for Taulbee, but also a fortunate and timely one. The cancer was found early and the Coeburn resident was able to quickly have surgery to remove part of her lung.

“There’s no question about it. Going to RAM that day saved my life,” Taulbee said. “It was truly a blessing for me. What they do there is a wonderful, wonderful thing. A wonderful service.”

That service will once again offer free medical care to thousands of people when the Health Wagon holds the 2009 RAM clinic Friday through Sunday at the Wise County Fairgrounds.

It will mark the 10th year in Southwest Virginia for the clinic, which provides exams and treatment for people, most who have no insurance or easy access to health care.

RAM, based in Knoxville, Tenn., was founded in 1985 by Stan Brock, former co-host and associate producer of the TV show “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” It is a mobile relief force and often is used to help those in rural areas.

Last year, the clinic logged nearly 5,200 “patient encounters,” a term used because many people take advantage of several services. Many others were turned away because there was not enough time nor volunteers to help everyone.

This year, about 1,800 volunteers are expected. In addition to licensed dentists, doctors, nurses, optometrists and other health-care professionals, hundreds of organizations, civic groups, businesses, churches and individuals have joined the Health Wagon to make the clinic happen.

The medical services offered will be:
* Eye exams and eyeglasses.
* Dental care ranging from fillings and extractions to biopsies and dentures.
* Hearing tests and hearing aids.
* Women’s and men’s health services.
* Lung X-rays and other pulmonary tests.
* Dermatology and plastic surgery.
* Osteopathic treatment and bone-density tests.
* Lab and pharmacy facilities.
* Various other medical specialists.

The Health Wagon nurse practitioner, Teresa Gardner, co-founder of the Southwest Virginia event, said the clinic is about thousands of needy people receiving free aid from hundreds of selfless doctors, nurses, medical students, social workers and volunteers.

“We’re blessed to have some really wonderful partners working with us,” Gardner said.

For example, the University of Virginia Medical School traditionally sends hundreds of doctors and other medical personnel. This year, the number of its volunteers is expected to increase to 250.

But the weekend medical mission also represents something else, Gardner said.

“It’s about trying to make a difference [by] improving the quality of life for people who are really desperate for health care and health access,” Gardner said. “What we’re doing isn’t something that’s just needed in Southwest Virginia. It could be done anywhere, because it’s needed all over this country right now.”

Kingsport pulmonologist Joseph Smiddy, a veteran of medical missions in such places as India, Peru and Central America, said his annual appearances at RAM continue to touch, inspire and motivate him.

“When you see the thousands of people standing in line, one of the first things you realize is they wouldn’t be standing in line there if they had any other choice, any other way, to receive health care,” he said.

“That’s always a very moving experience for me,” said Smiddy, who has conducted lung screenings at RAM with X-ray machines brought from home and set up on a tractor-trailer.

Smiddy said people often underestimate the crucial role that volunteers, private donors and others play in helping the medical clinic take place.

“Yes, there are a lot of us [doctors] there,” Smiddy said. “But for every doctor, you need about 30 volunteers to offer support for everything to run smoothly. The fact that so many people give their time every year is truly remarkable. Tremendous.”

“Tremendous” might also be a fitting word to describe Dorothy Taulbee these days, one year after her jolting – but lucky – discovery at RAM.

“I feel great, I’m doing great, my health is good,” Taulbee said. “But if it hadn’t been for me being [at RAM] when I was, who knows if I could say that now? It was a miracle for me, no doubt about it.”

| (276) 645-2512

If you go
* Registration begins at 6 a.m. daily; patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.
* A fast-track service is available for patients not getting eye or dental care, which should prevent many from waiting in long lines.
* Patients should bring all medications with them.
* Bagged lunches and water will be provided.
* Patients are advised to take sunscreen and an umbrella.