It's now here, in the United States.
Last night, 60 Minutes had a story about this program, Remote Area Medical or RAM. Not sure if any of you watched, but it's now available on the CBS News online.
From the article:
What RAM is all about is providing medical, dental and eye care to remote parts of the world. It's really a wonderful program and one I knew nothing about until the piece in 60 Minutes.
What they're doing now? They're setting up shop in various parts of the United States.
There's more......
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3889496.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_vi...ml?id=3898008n
http://www.ramusa.org/ (their official site - go and donate if you can - I have!)
Here's their 2008 schedule page: http://www.ramusa.org/expeditions/schedule.htm
ETA:
NY Times Magazine back in November (07), had a story on this as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/ma...ne&oref=slogin
..more: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...HOW_index.html
Last night, 60 Minutes had a story about this program, Remote Area Medical or RAM. Not sure if any of you watched, but it's now available on the CBS News online.
From the article:
Quote:
| 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. |
What they're doing now? They're setting up shop in various parts of the United States.
Quote:
| (CBS) This was RAM's 524th expedition. RAM took off in 1992, airlifting relief to Latin America. And at age 71, Stan Brock still flies the antique fleet. One of their planes, a C-47, flew on D-Day. Brock is British by birth, and an adventurer at heart. He was a cowboy in the Amazon and then, incredibly, he was discovered by TV's "Wild Kingdom." Brock was a star - sort of a naturalist daredevil - for the program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today Brock is devoted to RAM - completely devoted. He has no family, takes no salary, and has no home. Brock lives in an abandoned school that the city of Knoxville leases to RAM for $1. Until recently, he took showers in the courtyard with a hose. How does he pay for all the care and supplies? "In the first place we really know how to stretch the dollar. We operate entirely on the generosity of the American people. I'd like to say that we had big corporate support in America but we don’t. So it’s the little checks from those people who send in the $5 and $10," Brock explained. RAM operates on a shoestring budget of about $250,000 a year. Yet, last year, it treated 17,000 patients. On the Saturday 60 Minutes stopped by, there was no sign of a let up. "What have you accomplished today?" Pelley asked. "Approximately 600 people actually showed up here and we were able to do just about everybody I think we turned away about 15 people who are going to come back tomorrow anyway," Brock said. ....... "You created this medical organization designed to go into Third World countries to go into remote places, and now doing 60 percent of your work in urban and rural America, what are we supposed to make of that?" Pelley asked Brock. "For the 50 million or so people in this country, the one thing that is on their mind is 'What if I have a catastrophic event, a car crash, a heart attack,'" he replied. "'Because I either have no health insurance or I'm underinsured.' And, so this is a very, very weighty thing to be thinking about, knowing that your family is in great jeopardy." Late Sunday, Joanne Ford's number was among the last. Pelley found her sitting by a stairwell. She's retired, living on disability with no insurance, and her glasses don't work anymore. She got in only to find out the vision care line had closed. Asked what she was going to do, Ford told Pelley, "I don't know. I have a lot of friends and I have a lot of church support. I was very active in my church and I have a lot of friends in church. I just hate to ask. I've worked all my life. I hate to ask. That's why things like this are so wonderful." "There is no shame in seeking healthcare," Pelley remarked. "No. You're right. You know, it really, I am sad that we are the wealthiest nation in the world, and we don't take care of our own. So. But it will be okay," she said. And it did turn out okay after all. Someone at RAM noticed Ford's situation. They put her in the vision care line and examined her for a new pair of glasses. But at the gate, many were waiting when the weekend ended. In the expedition to Knoxville, RAM saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings. But when Stan Brock called the last number, 400 people were turned away. |
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3889496.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_vi...ml?id=3898008n
http://www.ramusa.org/ (their official site - go and donate if you can - I have!)
Here's their 2008 schedule page: http://www.ramusa.org/expeditions/schedule.htm
ETA:
NY Times Magazine back in November (07), had a story on this as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/ma...ne&oref=slogin
..more: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...HOW_index.html
