“Remote Area Medical–California” Begins Four Day Free Medical Clinic in Oakland–Volunteers Needed

Folks are traveling all the way from Napa to get care at the free medical clinic. RAM does good work and thank goodness they are here and this is a reminder of the failing healthcare system in the US for sure.

The same problem exists in California as they have had at other free clinics and that is getting enough volunteers. RAM was just in Sacramento and Oakland last year and has done a lot in California. RAM has grown to have it’s own California branch so again what does that tell you about people needing medical care and having to go to the Coliseum to get it.

Remote Area Medical Wraps Up Free Medical Care Clinic in Sacramento and Moves to Oakland For Another 4 Days of Free Care

For additional information you can visit the RAM California website to check on times and dates. Now notice one thing here again, we have a group that is dedicated to California which is part of the over all RAM group, so again the free clinics are growing as our healthcare system continues to fail. When you watch the video they had to close early as they didn’t have enough volunteers. BD

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An amazing four-day program is underway in Oakland to provide free dental, medical, and vision care.

It is being offered by the Remote Area Medical Foundation (RAM) and the program filled up quickly Thursday. The problem was not the turnout of patients. Instead, it was the lack of doctors that forced them to close down early.

At 3:30 Thursday morning, volunteers handed out 400 numbers to people looking for a free health exam. Some of them camped out for their spot in line. "It's a long wait. It's cold, but it's worth it," one man told ABC7. By 9:00, the clinic was full. "I'm shocked because I came all the way from Napa. I didn't expect it to be closed for the day," Kenneth Profit said.

The problem is not space or lack of equipment. There are plenty of empty dental chairs set up inside the Oakland Coliseum. The issue is finding enough dentists and eye doctors. "We don't have the number of volunteers today that we would hope to have," RAM founder Stan Brock said.

Ann Dukes, R.N., is a manager at Kaiser Hayward, but on Thursday, she was doing triage. "When I'm at Kaiser I'm supervising, not touching per se. Here is hands-on," Dukes said. When asked what kind of satisfaction did that give her, she said, "A lot more than supervising."