On August 25 & 26 of 2012, Remote Area Medical's main team from Knoxville, Tenn., will bring its mobile medical, dental and vision programs to Oklahoma City for its second Oklahoma event.
In July 2010, RAM (and local affiliate RAM Oklahoma) provided free medical, dental and vision care to more than 1,600 people at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
About 900 local volunteers staffed RAM's programs and equipment, with dentists and hygienists treating more than 850 dental patients. Optometrists, ophthalmologists and opticians provided more than 700 eye exams and created more than 680 pairs of glasses. More than 100 women received pap tests and vouchers for mammograms.
Now, in August 2012, RAM Oklahoma will welcome back its parent organization for another free-care weekend at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Interested volunteers are encouraged to sign up here.
Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Remote Area Medical was founded in 1985 to air-drop medical relief to areas of Central and South America.
British-born adventurer Stan Brock founded RAM as an all-volunteer health and veterinary care organization that would provide services in desolate places outside of the United States.
But in the mid 1990s, the obvious need for improved health care access led RAM to hold its first mobile expedition in Tennessee.
Since that time, demand for RAM's services in America has only increased, and RAM has since held free dental, vision and general medical care expeditions in Kentucky, Virginia and California.
In Oklahoma, local supporters have formed RAM Oklahoma, an affiliate of the non-profit.
In the long-term, RAM Oklahoma will expand with its own mobile equipment to provide free care around the state and to augment other organizations' existing health care efforts.
For more information about RAM outside of Oklahoma, please visit www.ramusa.org.
For a closer look at how RAM operates, watch this "60 Minutes" feature.
