I am 62 and in good physical and mental health, I have a little money and lots of good friends so I am in a very lucky place.
I am off to Remote Area Medical in Harrogate TN.
please see www.ramusa.com for more info.
As an RN I have asked to volunteer as this amazing clinic I have heard about in the news and seen on youtube.
Thursday
Harrogate is remote. It is located in the Cumberland Gap so it is in TN bordering Kentucky and Virginia. The town of Harrogate is Lincoln Memorial University and a few stores on the road going through it. You can drive through a mile long tunnel through the mountain and be in Kentucky.
the Gap refers to a pass in the mountains where the old pioneers would walk through from TN on their way to Kentucky and Ohio. they were a strong lot as are the local folk in the area. Before the pioneers the Cherokee to the South and the Shawnee to the north, walked the trail.
Have talked to a few locals at Wallmart and the maintenance person here at the university where I am staying and they impress me as really good souls with lilting speech. I am sure my speech is different to them. I understand them perfectly. their speech has cumberland gap inflections and is soft and pleasing to the ear.
doctors, dentists of all specialties, nurses, hygienists and eye doctors and opticians,vetanarians and lay volunteers from around the country will drive to Harrogate . some will fly into Knoxsville, even some will come private plane to volunteer there services. they will provide the manpower, and some supplies RAM will provide the rest. LMU the place, the national guard and local ambulances services, local restaurants and churches, food for the volunteers. Last year they provided 2000 visits for 1200 people. some used more than one services. all are free. clients start lining up in the early am. some the day before. they are given a #, sleep in their cars and the doors open at 6am
fri
Spent the am hiking in the Cumberland Gap forest. we walked the wilderness trail which is the original trails walked by the Shawnee and Cherokee and later by Daniel Boone and explorers. Later 300,000 folks would walk through the gap for TN, into Kentucky and then Ohio. President Lincoln descended from a pioneer who crossed through the Cumberland GAp. one trail ended in the surveyed place where Kentucky, TN and VA met.
The Gap Cave is prominent with a rushing stream coming out of it. this water rights of this stream are owned by LMU. It supplies the neighboring towns with water and Coca Cola bottles this water under the name of Cumberland Gap and pays LMU for that right.
This is the 605th Remote Area Medical event and my and Manuels first. On friday at 3pm we help to set up the dental area. 32 dental chairs and suction and drills are set up. these are mobile dental units used in the field by the military. they are self contained. On a table near by are all the needed supplies. on another are all the dental instruments.
I did my nursing work in the am of interviewing clients and filling out the dental, medical and vision forms to be given to the health providers by 9 am all of the 600 person allowed quota was registered and admitted so I was free of my nursing tasks. I then went over to Dental and learned to sterilize instruments. Later in the day I asked to assist the dentists and was allowed to do so. Most of the assistants were nurses and students in the school of osteopathic medicine at LMU. I loved assisting. I saw so much. the whole weekend was really life changing for me.
Most of the patients were there for dental services and vision. Most seemed to have had minimal dental care. some teeth were decayed of to the point of crumbling. Ideally these patients should be put to sleep to have their teeth surgically removed. But no anesthesia is available at ram , only local.
The first patient I assisted with had a full mouth extraction. 21 teeth. he lost them due to dacay and gum disease. Lots of young people had very bad teeth. they drank lots of Mountain Due, did not eat calcium rich foods, used unfloridated water, and had minimal to no dental care. Some also used methaphetamine which decays and blackens teeth. One of my clients was on methadone and her teeth were crumbling. It was hard to see but great to see incredibly competent dentists and oral surgeons working 8 to 10 hour days removing teeth and doing restorative work on folks that were so happy and grateful to be rid of the pain..
My friend Manuel worked 6 hours to set up the dental clinic. the next morning he had an eye exam and got new bifocals. Next he had 4 wisdom teeth extracted.
It is sad that folks living in the US are in such need and have to come to these annual free, no questions asked clinics. As long there is need there will be volunteers trying to help. there is also need for lay volunteers. think about volunteering.
