Clinic to offer medical, dental, vision care this weekend
After a year of planning and preparation, Remote Area Medical is set to offer free medical, dental and vision services at its first Lehigh Valley pop-up clinic this weekend.
The clinic will be held Saturday and Sunday inside the Executive Education Academy Charter School, 555 Union Blvd., Allentown, near Coca-Cola Park. The clinic will be open from morning to evening Saturday, but only open for half the day Sunday.
Doors open at 6 a.m. on both days, but coordinators advise patients to get there earlier if possible. The patient parking lot will open Friday at 11:59 p.m. for those who wish to camp out overnight.
The clinic is staffed entirely by volunteers who can perform some medical services, as well as dental or vision services, free of charge on a first-come, firstserved basis. Due to time constraints, patients must pick between eye care and dental care. No ID, insurance or qualifying information is required.
Besides English, some volunteers speak Spanish or Arabic and translators will also be available for these languages.
Brad Hutchins, clinic coordinator for RAM, said the nonprofit organization holds large pop-up clinics across the U.S., but as the upcoming clinic is their first in the region, there are some details that aren’t clear yet, including how many patients to expect.
Volunteer recruitment hasn’t ended, either. Hutchins said the organization will keep looking and accepting volunteers up until the start of the clinic. Volunteers can register on RAM’s website, ramusa.org.
“Most of our providers have registered with medical. We do have some vision support there,” Hutchins said. “Dental is one of the greater needs as far as recruitment.”
Health care professionals who have volunteered come from various specializations including general medicine, OB-GYN, urology and emergency medicine. Hutchins said medical services patients can expect are similar to those offered at most urgent cares. General medical exams are part of this, but so are women’s health exams and diabetic foot care. Some lab work is also available including HCG tests, cholesterol tests and A1C blood glucose tests.
Eye care services available include basic eye exams and eye health exams. Eyeglasses can also be prescribed and made on-site, so patients can take them home with them.
Patients that elect to receive dental services will be able to get cleaning, filling, extraction and dental X-ray work done.
Monica Georges, executive director of Nazareth-based Global Hope International, said getting everything together for the clinic has been a lengthy process.
It started with Global Hope planning domestic medical mission work with RAM. After doing a clinic with RAM in Philadelphia last year, she and her husband Dr. Clifford Georges decided they wanted to bring a RAM clinic to Allentown.
She said RAM only holds clinics in communities where there are community host groups who can help with planning, logistics and costs, and Global Hope was prepared to fill that role.
Help from county government and the community played a significant part in making the clinic possible, she said.
“We were blessed to receive three grants that are helping pay for the clinic,” Georges said.
Lehigh County gave $25,000 from its available COVID-19 funds, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley gave $20,000 from its fund for racial justice and equity, and B. Braun gave $3,000, she said.
Executive Education Academy Charter School officials also agreed to let the clinic use the gymnasiums in the main building and elementary school and Lehigh Valley Health Network provided support with volunteer recruitment.
She said Global Hope and RAM already are working together to see if they can do another free clinic in Allentown next year. Partners in the community have already shown interest, she said: Star Community Health has reached out to offer assistance and leadership at Executive Education told her that they will let their space be used for another clinic if this one goes well.
RAM has been in operation for nearly 40 years. Founded in 1985 to provide free medical care in remote areas of developing countries, requests for domestic clinics led to RAM holding its first U.S. clinic in 1992 in Tennessee. Now about 95% of RAM clinics are held domestically.
In 2022, RAM provided nearly $8 million worth of free care to 21,995 people. The average estimated value of free care provided per clinic visitor is $305.
Hutchins said RAM with the help of community host organizations has been able to do more clinics in Pennsylvania. Earlier this year RAM also held clinics for the first time in Mercer and Centre counties.
“We’re very excited. I’m very excited to attend these clinics and impact these new areas,” Hutchins said.