EKB News

KENTUCKY...
Pike County Central High School was the site of the Pike County Remote Area Medical Expedition on June 19 and 20. The event also marked the 600th time the event has been held overall.

“RAM is one of the greatest things to ever happen to the people of Pike County,”
Pike County Judge/Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said. “It is wonderful that so many
people take advantage of something so beneficial to their health and well-being.
It’s a national award-winning program that deserves all the recognition it gets. The
groups and individuals who got involved this year speak volumes about the program’s
importance.”

The publically supported, all-volunteer program offered medical, dental and vision
to people in need of medical attention. Medical services included screenings for
cholesterol, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; exams for males and females
including breast, cervical and prostate; diabetes management; autism screenings and
education and screenings for all major cancers.

Dental services included cleanings, fillings and extractions along with vision care
such as eye exams and eyeglasses.

Pike County Social Services Commissioner Carol Napier, who organized the event, was
pleased with this year’s participation from volunteers and professionals.

“We knew this year’s event was going to be bigger than last year’s so we knew the
more people we had involved the better it would be,” she said. “It’s always good to
have trained personnel working with any event or program that happens, and RAM is no
exception because of how important it is to the people of Pike and surrounding
counties.”

Several groups were new to this year’s RAM, including the United States Public
Health Services Rapid Deployment Team. USPHS Director of Training and Medical
Readiness Cmdr. Kimberly Elenberg, R.N., said Pike County RAM was only the second
domestic venture for the rapid deployment team. The USPHS brought doctors, nurses,
optometrists and dentists along with other volunteers who assisted in many different
ways.

“We do a lot of work in rural settings,” Elenberg said. “It’s an honor for us to
come down and work with Pike County RAM.”

RAM Kentucky Chairman Dr. Bill Collins said the USPHS used Pike County RAM to train
for better hands-on disaster training.

More than 15 percent of citizens in the United States are without healthcare
benefits, and that number increases in rural areas such as Pike County.

“I was terrified when we did the first one,” Napier said. “I had never organized
something so large. Now, it keeps getting bigger and keeps requiring more
organization, but the bigger the better so we do what we can to make it happen and
make it the best it can be.”

Founded in 1985, Remote Area Medical is a publicly supported all-volunteer
charitable organization. Volunteer doctors, nurses, veterinarians and support
workers participate in expeditions (at their own expense) in some of the world's
most exciting places. Medical supplies, medicines, facilities and vehicles are
donated.

The vision for Remote Area Medical developed in the Amazon rain forest where founder
Stan Brock spent 15 years with the Wapishana Indians. He lived with the pain and
suffering created by isolation from medical care. He witnessed the near devastation
of whole tribes by what would have been simple or minor illnesses to more advanced
cultures. When he left South America to co-star in the television series "Wild
Kingdom,” he vowed to find a way to deliver basic medical aid to people in the
world's inaccessible regions.

The organization was founded in 1985 and years of research and planning yielded a
vast, carefully developed network of men and women who have come together to make
RAM a highly mobile, remarkably efficient relief force. Volunteers are doctors,
nurses, technicians, and veterinarians who go on expeditions at their own expense
and treat hundreds of patients a day under some of the worst conditions.

Volunteers have provided general medical, surgical, eye, dental, and veterinary care
to tens of thousands of people and animals, with 60 percent of the expeditions
serving rural America. There are plans for expansion of US expeditions, an airborne
medical treatment center, a permanent clinic site in Guyana, and a program start-up
in Africa.

Pike RAM 2010 Partners

Pike County Board of Education
Pikeville Medical Center
Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine
Pike County Health Department
United States Public Health Service Commission Corp
Highlands Regional Medical Center
Kings Daughter Medical Center
University of Louisville School of Dentistry
University of Kentucky School of Dentistry
Sandy Valley Transportation
Kentucky Homeplace
Big Sandy Community Action Program
Social Security Administration
Pike County Senior Citizens Program, Inc.
OPERATION UNITE
Unite Pike
Kentucky Cancer Program
Pike County Office of Emergency Management
One Is Greater Than None
East Kentucky Broadcasting
Medical Leader
Appalachian News Express
Williamson Daily News
WPRG
Suddenlink
WYMT-TV
WSAZ-TV

Pike RAM 2010 Contributors


Childers Oil Company, Inc.
One Is Greater Than None, Inc.
Food City (Shelbiana)
East Kentucky Exposition Center
Kentucky Mountain Dental Society
Highlands Regional Medical Center
Pikeville Medical Center
Pike County Health Department
Pike County Fiscal Court
City of Pikeville
City of Coal Run Village
Charity Thrift Store
UNITE
Appalachian Wireless
Pike Associations of Southern Baptists
Sara Lee Bakery
Mother Nature Mountain Spring Water
Christian Appalachian Project
Pike County Senior Citizens Program
Wal-Mart
Kellogg
McDonald’s
Long John Silver’s
Busy Bee Septic
Pike County Democratic Woman’s Club
Sharon W. Turk
UMG
Pike County Bar Association
McCoy Elkhorn Coal Corporation
Pikeville/Pike County Ministerial Association
Grace Baptist
TECO Coal Corporation
Karen Sue Varney
Ronnie and Brenda Williamson
Eric and Mary Nunnally
Summit Engineering, Inc.
Dr. Robert and Penelope McGuin
Lou Whitt
Lois Adkins
U.S. Bank
Community Trust Bank
Cash Express
Big Lots
Pepsi Cola
Coke Cola
Captain D’s
Dairy Queen
Arby’s
Burger King
Dairy Cheer
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Wendy’s
Hardee’s
Mayflower Baptist Church


Patient Care Overview
Children Adults
General Medical 0 251
Eye Care 4
3
Eye Care with Glasses 3 314
Dentistry 31
575
Extractions 4
1,157
Fillings 14
255
Cleaning 12
119
Exam only 2
39

Total patients Registered – 990
Percentage of Children – 3.8 percent
Total Value of Care – $330,403
Total Services Rendered – 1,235
Total Volunteers – 568



PIKE COUNTY REMOTE AREA MEDICAL

United States Public Health Service Rapid Deployment Team.