On July 9 – 11, Remote Area Medical will be coming to Oklahoma City for what local organizers plan to be the first of many RAM free care events in Oklahoma.
But RAM's story is much bigger than one free health care event.
Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Remote Area Medical was founded in 1985 to air-drop medical relief to areas of Central and South America.
British-born adventurer Stan Brock founded RAM as an all-volunteer health and veterinary care organization that would provide services in desolate places outside of the United States.
But in the mid 1990s, the obvious need for improved health care access led RAM to hold its first mobile expedition in Tennessee.
Since that time, demand for RAM's services in America has only increased, and RAM has since held free dental, vision and general medical care expeditions in Kentucky, Virginia and California.
In Oklahoma, local supporters have formed RAM Oklahoma, an affiliate of the non-profit.
In the long-term, RAM Oklahoma will expand with its own mobile equipment to provide free care around the state and to augment other organizations' existing health care efforts.
For more information about RAM outside of Oklahoma, please visit www.ramusa.org.
For a closer look at how RAM operates, watch this "60 Minutes" feature.
