Silver Springs, Nevada – A news feature on Remote Area Medical’s recent visit to Northern Nevada by Peter Krogh Andersen of Denmark was published this week. The article is written in Danish, but even if you don’t read that language, the videos and pictures convey the life-changing things that happen when RAM brings its free, mobile clinic to a town.
RAM Clinic Reaches 323 From Northern Nevada: For instance, during just 3 days in September of 2016, RAM’s pop up clinic at the high school in Silver Springs reached 323 people of all ages who came not only from Silver Springs, but also from Yerington, Fallon, Dayton, Fernley, Carson City, and beyond for free dental, vision and medical care. Patients were able to get dental services such as fillings, extractions and dental cleanings. Vision care included eye exams and prescription eye glasses made on the spot in RAM’s mobile lab. Patients were also able to get general exams, sports physicals, and pelvic exams and tests (Community Health Nurses will call any patients whose lab results show a need for follow up care, and follow up care will be provided by Renown in Silver Springs, the Community Health Nursing Clinic in Dayton, and by Carson Health and Human Services). Volunteering doctors, nurses, technicians, and dental care professionals came from as close as Carson City and Reno and from as far as Oregon, California, Tennessee and beyond. Lyon County Human Services staff was on hand to help with referrals to local services, and Carson City Health and Human Services and state Community Health Nurses offered vaccines (including the normally very expensive vaccine to prevent Shingles).
Interviewing Patients, Volunteers, and RAM’s Core Team: Peter observed the RAM event in Silver Springs at length, arriving before dawn each morning, along with volunteers and hopeful patients. He learned about the region and the event by interviewing many volunteers, patients, RAM staff, local organizers, and the high school Principal, Patrick Peters, who has welcomed the RAM clinic, previous free clinics called Medical Outreach Response Events, and mobile services through a regional Health Hub, into his school to increase local access to basic health care services.
Peter also took a tour of the region with Sarah Adler, director of USDA Rural Development in Nevada, who was volunteering with RAM in her role as a board member with Healthy Communities.
During the event, Peter was welcomed by Healthy Communities Coalition’s Volunteer Director, Freida Carbery, and her husband Don, staying at their home in Dayton, and attending nightly dinners there for RAM’s Core Team and volunteers. The delicious meals, prepared by volunteer Karel Ancona-Henry, extended opportunities for conversations in which Peter learned more about RAM, issues with access to health care in Nevada (especially dental care), and unique considerations surrounding rural access to health care.
About Journalist Peter Krogh Andersen: While he was in Silver Springs, Peter was invited by Principal Patrick Peters to speak to a Silver Stage High English class about his career as a journalist. Students were interested to hear about his international experiences – he’s been traveling across the U.S. during the last year, interviewing Americans for news stories on various topics. Peter has a Master’s degree from the University of Southern Denmark in International Politics, with a focus on the Middle East. His dissertation was on Turkish foreign policy in the 1990s and 2000s. He also attended Bilkent Üniversitesi, with a focus on Turkey and International Politics, and the American University of Beirut with a focus in Middle Eastern Studies. His undergradate degree was in journalism from the University of Southern Denmark.
Finding the feature online: Peter’s feature looks best on a big screen rather than a cell phone. Some of the photos and video in Peter’s article are by Truckee, California filmmaker Aaron Schnobrich.
You can find the full feature by Peter here:
http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/webdok/ram
A summary of the feature can be found in English here:
People from Lyon, Churchill, Carson, etc. lined up before dawn in hopes of health care.
Dr. Powell of Nevada was among the hard working volunteers
Wendy Madson (right), Healthy Communities’ recruiter for volunteer dental professionals for the RAM event, listened carefully to each patient during long work days that began before dawn.
Ron Brewer of Tennessee, Clinic Director for Remote Area Medical (RAM)
Danish journalist Peter Andersen and Truckee, California filmmaker Aaron Schnobrich at the RAM event.