Hundreds of people flooded to Tex Turner Arena on the campus of LMU for the Remote Area Medical Clinic over the weekend. The clinic offered free dental, medical, vision, and hearing care as well as veterinary service to the underserved, uninsured, underinsured, and unemployed.

By the time the event was over, 362 patients had been served — slightly lower than the 2018 numbers. Veterinarians spayed or neutered 110 pets over the weekend, a slight increase from the previous year.

The Remote Area Medical clinic provides limited health care at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis to adults who struggle to obtain care. Since 2006, RAM and LMU have partnered to deliver nearly $2 million worth of services to 5,501 people. Since adding veterinary services, they have delivered over $229,000 worth of free veterinary care to more than 1,600 pets in our region.

A variety of free services were rendered at LMU.

Medical services included specialist exams, osteopathic manipulations, diabetes screenings and education, cholesterol screenings, pulmonary function testing, pap smears, breast exams and medication assistance.

Dental cleanings, fillings and extractions were performed on-site. Vision services included complete eye exams with eyeglasses to be made on site.

The RAM Veterinary Clinic is only for intact animals of RAM patients and included spays and neuters, as well as vaccines and other veterinary services for animals spayed or neutered at the clinic.

The Remote Area Medical clinic program was established by the late Stan Brock in 1985 to address the pain and suffering caused by the lack of health care in impoverished, underserved and isolated areas.