Third World emergency rooms in the South

In case you missed it, 60 Minutes reported this week on Knoxville TN based Remote Area Medical and a recent free clinic they conducted in Knoxville. A transcript of the 60 Minutes report is here and following is the video:
 

Remote Area Medical (RAM) was founded by Stan Brock. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he was the popular co-star of TV's Wild Kingdom. Brock grew up in the Amazon rain forest where he learned first hand about being isolated from medical care. He later managed a ranch in Guyana before moving to Knoxville and founding RAM in 1985.

He lives in an abandoned elementary school which the City of Knoxville leases him for $1 per year. The school doubles as a staging area and warehouse for donated supplies. According to a 2003 interview, he leases a DC3 cargo plane from an Ohio philanthropist for $1 per year, and RAM's only paid employees are the RAM Foundation Director and a part-time bookkeeper. Brock, himself a bush pilot, does not take a salary and all of the work is provided by volunteer doctors, dentists, pilots, and other volunteers.

RAM was started with the idea of providing medical assistance to inaccessible areas such the Amazon rain forests. Brock realized, though, that a similar need existed in rural America, particularly in the Appalachians. RAM has conducted more than 400 two to three day fly-in "medical expeditions" in countries such as Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, East Africa, India, Nepal, and the U.S. Now, 60% of their expeditions are in the U.S., where a weekend no-cost clinic is held each month somewhere in the Southern Appalachians.

Dr. Tom Kim, a Knoxville physician who operates a local free clinic, had an op-ed column in the local paper describing his experience as a volunteer at the Knoxville RAM clinic. Dr. Kim, a Korean immigrant, describes the scene as a "Third World emergency room."

Nearly a thousand people received free services, and hundreds more who had lined up out in the cold the night before were turned away. The 60 Minutes images of families peering through chain-link fences in hopes of receiving medical or dental care are heartbreaking.

In the 60 Minutes report, Joanne Ford was hoping to get in to the clinic. When asked what she would do if she couldn't, she said "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."

I hate to ask.

If you would like to support Remote Area Medical's efforts you can make an online donation at their website. Medical professionals and others who would like to volunteer can click here to find out how. There are most likely free or low-cost clinics in your area doing similar work every day, and they could use your help, too.

The state of America's broken health care system is a national disgrace. There is much debate on how to fix it, but one thing is certain -- we shouldn't be leaving it up to the Stan Brocks and Dr. Kims of the world to make up for America's failure to provide for the basic health care needs of all its citizens.