Estimated $250,000 In Free Care Provided For 500+ Patients During 2-Day RAM Clinic In East Ridge

  • Sunday, October 24, 2021
  • Judy Frank
Dental patients at this year’s free Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic in East Ridge were treated in ventilated 10-foot by 10-foot tents, to protect both patients and workers from COVID-19
Dental patients at this year’s free Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic in East Ridge were treated in ventilated 10-foot by 10-foot tents, to protect both patients and workers from COVID-19

Chicago-area nurse David Maurer’s day job is helping take care of the medical problems of 850+ male and female inmates at Lake County, Jail in northwest Indiana. During his down time, however, he crisscrosses the nation, donating hundreds of hours a year to working with Remote Area Medical (RAM) pop-up clinics to provide free medical, dental and vision care for people with health problems they cannot afford to have treated.

This weekend, nurse Maurer was in East Ridge serving as clinic coordinator for RAM’s clinic at Camp Jordan.

Setting up the clinics is more complicated now than it used to be, he explained, since precautions must be taken to prevent the spread of Covic-19.

Everybody, volunteers and patients alike, must wear masks and go through a rapid Covid test just to get in.

In addition, special protocols are followed to prevent spread of the virus. Rather than sitting in open rows of dental chairs, the clinic coordinator explained, each chair is now enclosed in a 10-foot by 10-foot ventilated tent that provides protection for both workers and patients.

Although the clinic – which operates on a first come, first served basis -- was open only on Saturday and Sunday, he said, people began arriving at Camp Jordan on Friday afternoon so they could get a good place in line. Many spent that night in their vehicles, he said; a few, homeless, spread out sleeping bags in the parking lot and waited there for the clinic to open at 6 a.m.

By early Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours later, RAM volunteers had treated about 520 people for an assortment of dental, vision and medical problems.

The largest number, 350, were there to have teeth pulled, cavities and/or other dental problems taken care of. If they had time many went on to also line up for either vision or medical care, clinic coordinator Maurer said.

In addition to RAM volunteers, he noted, local agencies also showed up to help. Memorial hospital sent its van to do lung cancer screenings. Volunteer urologists and other workers performed more than a dozen PAP smears. Walgreen’s Pharmacy sent employees to the clinic to give flu shots, and the Hamilton County Health Department provided staff and vaccine for about two dozen people who had yet to get their COVID-19 vaccines.

Early Sunday evening, nurse Maurer headed back up north a happy man. “This is what God wants me to do with my life,” he said.

Five years ago, in 2016, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing, he said.

He became a nurse in 2014, he said, after his 20-year-job as a fireman and paramedic was eliminated and he couldn’t find another. “Go get your nursing degree,” he recalled being told by a nurse he was dating, “and you’ll always have a job.”

It worked, he said, but when he turned 50 in 2016 he realized he wasn’t satisfied. “I felt like I wasn’t really doing anything with my life.”

He began researching, he said, and eventually discovered RAM.

The more he read about the organization, the nurse said, the better he liked it.

That same year, he signed up to volunteer at a RAM clinic in Huntsville.

“It was a turning point in my life,” he said with a wide smile.

This weekend wasn’t his first trip to Chattanooga, he said, and he’s discovered he likes it here.

RAM is welcome here, he said, by patients, the medical community and the population in general.

“This is the second-busiest of all the clinics I’ve been to this year,” he said.

On Saturday alone, he said, the pop-up clinic treated more than 350 patients and provided nearly $200,000 worth of dental, vision and medical care.

The Sunday clinic, which only operates until early afternoon, drew another 175 patients, he said.

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