KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Hundreds of people will be looking for free dental, vision and medical care this weekend at the Jacob Building in Knoxville's Chilhowee Park.
"We love seeing all of our patients and being locally based, these are our neighbors and our friends, so we're happy to be here," RAM Clinic Coordinator Hailey Vittetoe said.
For 40 years, Remote Area Medical has put on free medical clinics to communities across the country. This clinic is entirely volunteer-based, and those helping this weekend come from all over.
"Amazing to see a community come together like this and to see volunteers, dental schools, medical schools and undergraduate chapters come from all over the country, I mean, we've got people from Florida, New York here today and seeing the local community advertise this, let their neighbors know and helping their neighbors in need has been such a heartwarming experience," RAM Volunteer Coordinator Natasha Tracy said.
The night before the first day of the clinic, people sleep in their cars waiting in line to receive care. That care comes in the form of cavity fillings, new glasses and checkups.
"We've seen a good number of folks, we've seen people that I've referred, we have the pleasure of a wonderful plastic surgeon and I think we've had at least three skin cancers removed already for these folks and we were able to diagnose it with some new equipment, have the surgeon take off the skin cancer and there's no cost and this makes a major difference for these folks," Dr. Paul Hart said.
Metro Drug Coalition will be joining RAM at the clinic, teaching people about the importance of Narcan.
"Really important that people know not only what naloxone is, but how to use it, what it does so it's specifically for an opioid overdose and now what we're seeing is fentanyl, it's really prevalent in our drug supply, a lot of people, even if they're buying what they think are pharmaceutical medications, are actually press fentanyl pills so it's extremely important that every family and every home understands what this is and has access to it," Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist Jessica Stanley said.