1/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Health-care nonprofit Remote Area Medical teamed up with Health Wagon of Central Appalachia for a March 22 mini-clinic in Wise in southwestern Virginia, offering free medical exams, eyeglasses, X-rays, pap smears, and hearing tests.
2/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Local residents line up for health services at the clinic, held at Zion Family Ministries in Wise.
3/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Diane Cooper, a nursing student, speaks to a patient during the clinic.
4/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Ophthalmologist Calvin Miller tests a woman’s vision. Dr. Miller came to Wise as a volunteer from the Johnson City Eye Clinic just over the state line in Tennessee.
5/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Volunteers check in patients for health services. Registration is limited to five at a time.
6/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Students from Mountain Empire Community College in nearby Big Stone Gap, Va., take blood pressure and blood samples.
7/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Travis Garrett, a student at the Appalachian College of Pharmacy, and Leslie Peters, a registered nurse, check the blood pressure at Billie Horton’s ankle to look for signs of narrowed or blocked arteries.
8/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
Pulmonologist Joseph Smiddy checks the lung capacity of Michael Brooks, 47, who worked as a coal miner for 17 years.
9/9
Jason Andrew for The Chronicle
A patient has his eyes checked.
When Remote Area Medical holds free health clinics, usually in economically struggling rural areas, people often start to line up a day or even two days ahead of time. Most, however, aren’t there because they’re ill or want to get a checkup.
“They’re coming because we fix their teeth, and we make them eyeglasses,” says Stan Brock, founder of the health charity. “When they’re sick, they go to the emergency room.”
When a clinic starts, everyone in line gets a number and selects whether they want to see a dentist, eye doctor, or physician. The rough breakdown: Seventy percent sign up to see a dentist, while most of the rest choose an eye doctor.
Remote Area Medical tries to persuade as many people as possible to see a medical doctor while they wait for the other services. It’s not uncommon for those examinations to uncover conditions patients didn’t know they had, like high blood pressure, diabetes, or, in a few cases, cancer.
Mr. Brock, who co-hosted the nature program Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom in the 1960s, founded the organization in 1985 to provide medical care in developing countries. He was inspired by an experience he had as a teenager in South America: Working as a cowboy in a remote region of what was then British Guiana, he was badly injured by a wild horse, hundreds of miles from the nearest doctor. Reaching help would have taken days.
Later, Remote Area Medical turned its attention to the United States, where it has held more than 800 clinics and served more than 700,000 patients. The group’s annual budget of $3.1 million comes entirely from individuals and foundations.
Mr. Brock is stoic about the health-care debate on Capitol Hill. Remote Area Medical has never seen a downtick in the need for its services.
“The Affordable Care Act made absolutely no difference to our members,” he says. “The people in this country who can’t afford insurance or can’t afford to go to the dentist or the eye doctor are there in the millions.”
