About one third of Americans say they’ve skipped meals, borrowed money, or cut back on utilities to pay for health care, according to a Gallup poll. The Trump administration lowered prices on more than 50 drugs, but premiums in the Affordable Care marketplace rose — in some cases doubling — and the administration made the largest cuts ever to Medicaid. Already 3 million people have lost insurance; estimates put that number at 10 million in three years. Those pressures recalled a 2008 story about Remote Area Medical (RAM), the charity that began by parachuting doctors into South American jungles and, in the 1990s, turned to Americans shut out of health care by cost. We returned to a RAM pop-up clinic to see how it helps people in need.
In a frigid February in Knoxville, Tennessee, the parking lot began to fill before dawn. Many had driven hundreds of miles. RAM can only accept a limited number of patients on a weekend, so people line up days ahead. Sandra Tallent arrived at 4:30 Wednesday evening and spent two nights sleeping in her car after a 200-mile drive, all because she lacked dental insurance. “If you didn’t have RAM how would you get your teeth taken care of?” Scott Pelley asked. “I wouldn’t,” she said.
Nearby, Dave Burge had spent the night in his truck, aching to get a full set of dentures. He told how an uninsured drunk driver plowed into him, then later a work accident re-broke his jaw. After years of surgeries and $140,000 in bills, he’d gone back to work but lacked money for dental care. Construction employers assumed he’d lost his teeth to meth. “If you didn’t have Remote Area Medical, what would you do?” Pelley asked. “Suffer,” Burge replied. “No other way around it. They’re life changing.”
The line in Knoxville stretched to 1,200 patients over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Brad Sands, a former paramedic and RAM clinic coordinator, directed people through the system. “Everybody,” he said of those in cars — neighbors, parents, friends — people from the community and nationwide. RAM is open to all: no insurance required, and staff won’t judge. About half the patients have no insurance; the others have plans they can’t afford to use because of co-pays and deductibles. Many plans exclude dental, vision, and hearing care.
Chris Hall, who volunteered at RAM at age 12 and is now CEO, said roughly 65% of patients request dental service, 30% request eye exams and glasses, and only 5% request medical care. Dental and vision are two large, isolated gaps in access. RAM also screens for blood sugar, blood pressure, breast cancer, skin cancer, and more. Depending on clinic size, RAM spends between $100,000 and $500,000 over a weekend.
Funding comes largely from the public: more than 81% of supporters are individual donors writing small monthly checks. Those donations are leveraged with donated clinic space, supplies, and volunteers — 887 volunteers at the Knoxville event alone. Medical professionals came from 30 states and brought students with them. Volunteers pay their own way and give their time; many describe the experience as restorative to their faith in humanity.
Dentists see desperate patients. Glen Goldstein, who volunteered from New Jersey, described people who simply want teeth removed because they can’t afford restorative care. “I say, ‘Some of these teeth can be saved,’” he said. “They go, ‘I don’t care. Please—take them out.’” He counts teeth taken and sometimes must remove full sets because patients foresee no way to maintain them otherwise.
RAM’s mission to relieve pain traces to its late founder, Stan Brock, an adventurous Englishman who once walked nearly a month in the Amazon to seek treatment. He started RAM with an Army surplus C-47 and later focused on Americans cut off from care. When we first met Stan in 2008 he was living modestly, took no salary, and ran the charity with intense dedication; he died in 2018. After a 2008 broadcast about RAM, $4 million in donations poured in and volunteer numbers multiplied. RAM expanded from a dozen clinics a year to about 90.
Volunteering often becomes a family affair. Goldstein’s son, wife, daughter-in-law, and other family members have all volunteered repeatedly. Many volunteers say they get as much from the work as the patients do.
Technology and innovation have sped some services. Connor Gibson, a 22-year-old engineer, helps make dentures with digital design and 3D printers, producing sets in about an hour. He has slept in the trailer housing the printers to keep them running; he talks about the “mirror moment” when patients see themselves restored and the emotional release that follows. “When you give ’em that mirror, you just see all that stress melt away,” he said.
For Dave Burge, the mirror moment came with a new set of teeth and a sense of normalcy. Sandra Tallent also cried when she first saw her restored smile, thanking volunteers who’d made a way where she had none. Over the Knoxville weekend, RAM treated more than 500 patients, relieved pain for about 700 people, and restored 24 smiles. With insurance increasingly out of reach for growing millions, RAM moves quickly to the next city to make health care in America a little less remote.
“You look beautiful,” a volunteer told Sandra as she left. “Do you think I look pretty?” she asked. “Yeah,” the volunteer answered. “You look gorgeous.” “Thank you again for being here,” Sandra said. “Get some sleep.”
Produced by Henry Schuster and Sarah Turcotte. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Joe Schanzer.