Third World Medical Volunteers Now Aiding Americans

The doctors, nurses, dentists and other volunteers of Remote Area Medical (RAM) normally serve isolated populations in South America and Africa, sometimes parachuting into jungles from aging airplanes.

But now, with the ill-fated marriage of America's broken health care system and plummeting economy, RAM is running emergency medical clinics in the United States. Hundreds of people wait for hours or even overnight to get into the weekend clinics and hundreds more have to be turned away.

RAM was featured on 60 Minutes earlier this year showing doctors running a massive clinic in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn., where the organization is based.

Many of the patients who lined up for exams and medical tests have both jobs and insurance. But they are among millions of underinsured Americans who can't afford the out-of-pocket costs that come with seeing their family doctor or going to an emergency room.

One man who years earlier had two heart attacks and heart surgery — but no follow-up — drove 200 miles and slept in his car in the makeshift clinic's parking lot to make sure he'd be early enough to see doctors. He told 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley that he hadn't gone back to a doctor after surgery because he couldn't afford the $500 deductible. Between him, his wife and daughter, the clinic provided checkups, glasses, mammograms and dental care.

"This has truly been a Godsend to us, to me and my family and to all the hundreds of people here," the man said. "I see the faces. The relief in the faces."

Small donations provide RAM a shoestring budget of about $250,000 a year. The organization was started in 1985 by adventurer Stan Brock, who was a co-host of TV's "Wild Kingdom" in the 1960s and early 70s.

"You created this medical organization designed to go into Third World countries and now are doing 60 percent of your work in urban and rural America. What are we supposed to make of that?" Pelley asked Brock.

Noting the 47 million uninsured Americans and the millions of others underinsured, Brock said, "The one thing on their mind is, 'What if I have a catastrophic event, a car crash, a heart attack? This is a very, very weighty thing to be thinking about, knowing that your family is in great jeopardy."

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