Mobile health care returns to East County

Sarasota’s Kimberly Bishop arrived at the Manatee Technical College parking lot shortly before midnight Oct. 12 to ensure she would get a good spot in line for when the Remote Area Medical clinic began issuing appointment numbers at 3 a.m.

She didn’t mind sleeping in her car.

“I haven’t gotten new glasses or a new prescription for two years,” Bishop said. “I don’t have vision insurance. This is excellent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to get glasses.”

She left the next day with new glasses and a healthy amount of appreciation. She was one of just less than 1,000 people to receive free medical, dental or vision care at the clinic, which doesn’t have any qualifying requirements and asks for no identification.

The patients weren’t the only ones feeling blessed.

Dr. Thomas Purcell of Advanced Dental Care of Lakewood Ranch said he enjoys donating his time each year.

“Most people are very thankful that we’re doing this,” Purcell said.

Kathi Hofstad, the volunteer coordinator from RAM, said the clinic is one of the nonprofit’s largest. RAM scheduled 37 clinics this year, with all but six in the United States. RAM held one clinic in Haiti and five in Puerto Rico.

“We are tickled to death. It’s wonderful to see support like this in the community,” said Hofstad. “It’s great for these volunteers to give back. We cannot do this without them. Every job is important.”

Dr. Jonathan Adler, a Bradenton ophthalmologist, said many of his patients talked about how they couldn’t afford vision coverage.

Adler had seen 20 patients by 8 a.m. Oct. 13. 

“This is the reason I do it, to give back to the community,” he said.

One dental patient, Bradenton’s Loren Ryan, needed to have 18 teeth pulled. Tampa Dr. Nick Letteri handled the appointment.

“I’m a little nervous,” said Ryan, who said his veteran’s benefits didn’t cover the procedure. “I had to come here to get something done.”

Letteri said he and the other dentists were mostly doing extractions.

“It would be great if we could do RAM more than once a year so that we could catch all of these little cavities as they happen,” Letteri said. “Last year I pulled 54 teeth.”

Dentist Jose Rivadeneira said the RAM volunteers see many more patients than they would see in a comparable time at their practices.

Rivadeneira works at Great Expressions Dental in Tampa and has volunteered at five different RAM clinics, some as far as Houston.

“I am a graduate of (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine) and I keep coming back because I’m trying to be a good role model for my son,” said Rivadeneira.

Rivadeneira’s 14-year-old son, Jose Jr., volunteered at RAM serving food.

“This is a great way to keep passing on traditions of good,” said the elder Rivadeneira.

It was the first RAM held in Bradenton since the death of RAM founder Stan Brock, a former co-host with Marlin Perkins of NBC’s Emmy winning series, “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” Brock died at age 82 on Aug. 29. He founded RAM in 1985.

Brock attended the first RAM at Manatee Technical College in 2015.