Free dental, medical, vision, and hearing care along with veterinary service will be available to the underserved, uninsured, underinsured, and unemployed this weekend. The mobile Remote Area Medical health clinic will be hosted by Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) and held at Tex Turner Arena Saturday and Sunday.

The Remote Area Medical clinic provides limited health care at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis to adults who struggle to obtain care. Since 2006, RAM and LMU have partnered to deliver nearly $2 million worth of services to 5,501 people. Since adding veterinary services, they have delivered over $229,000 worth of free veterinary care to more than 1,600 pets in our region.

The 2018 RAM clinic served 595 people, providing them with $401,050 worth of free dental, vision and medical care. Additionally, the veterinary clinic served 106 pets of the human patients received over $29,000 in free veterinary care, including spay and neuter surgeries.

Patients line up in the pre-dawn darkness to register. Tickets are handed out to patients in the parking area, where they can wait if arriving before 6 a.m.

The Tex Turner Arena parking lot will open at midnight and numbers will begin to be distributed at 3 a.m. People taking part in the human services clinic may bring their unaltered cats and dogs for spay/neuter and additional veterinary services. Services will not be available for pets that have already been fixed.

Dogs should be leashed or in small carriers; cats should be in carriers. Animals should not be fed after midnight unless they are less than six months old.

During the clinic, licensed volunteers will be providing free medical, dental and vision services. All services are rendered on a first-come, first-served basis, with no eligibility requirements. Many of the volunteers are also medical students looking for hands-on experience or local students who can come out on a weekend to help.

Patients who are unable to stand for long periods of time are encouraged to bring a lawn chair with them. All animals may have water. Animals will be registered overnight and pet owners should be prepared to drop them off at designated locations at 4:30 a.m.

The patient entrance will be located at the lower level of Tex Turner Arena, which is behind the building. The lower level parking lot will be reserved for event staff and handicapped parking only. All other parking will be in the upper parking lot. Shuttle buses will run to the patient entrance throughout the weekend.

A variety of free services will be rendered at LMU.

Medical services will include specialist exams, osteopathic manipulations, diabetes screenings and education, cholesterol screenings, pulmonary function testing, pap smears, breast exams and medication assistance.

Dental cleanings, fillings and extractions will be performed on-site.

Vision services will include complete eye exams with eyeglasses to be made on site, as time and supplies permit.

The RAM Veterinary Clinic is only for intact animals of RAM patients and includes spays and neuters, as well as vaccines and other veterinary services for animals spayed or neutered at the clinic.

The Remote Area Medical clinic program was established by the late Stan Brock in 1985 to address the pain and suffering caused by the lack of health care in impoverished, underserved and isolated areas.

Lincoln Memorial University and RAMusa.org contributed to information included in this story.