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Media Inquiries: 434-924-5679 U.VA. MEDICAL STAFF PREPARES FOR ANNUAL CLINIC IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
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Preparations are underway by medical and nursing personnel from the University of Virginia Health System to help with the Remote Area Medical Clinic (RAM) in Wise, Va., on Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27. The clinic, which will be held at the Lonesome Pine Airport, provides free medical and dental care and patient education to the people of rural southwest Virginia, a medically underserved area of the state. Dr. Claudette Dalton, assistant dean of community based medicine at U.Va., said that 72 doctors, nurses, medical and nursing students and other health care professionals from U.Va. will volunteer their time and expertise to help care for an estimated 3,000 patients during the three-day clinic. The Health System is donating medical equipment, supplies and services, as well as housing and transportation for the volunteers from U.Va. “This is a huge effort the doctors are putting forth,” Dalton said. “The staff is basically designing this and brainstorming on how to handle the logistics. Each group has done an enormous amount of planning to get the right kind of equipment and supplies down there. There is quite a need for this kind of service only five and a half hours away.” Organizations in southwest Virginia that will help facilitate the clinic are the National Guard, the Lion’s Club, Virginia Dental Association, the Health Department, St. Mary’s Health Wagon and local churches. Sister Bernie Kenny, a Catholic nun and family nurse practitioner, began the RAM clinic in 1999. For more information about the clinic, please call Dr. Claudette Dalton of the University of Virginia Health System (434) 924-2629. July 22, 2003 |