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audio, stills, text and or video: Go to http://www.zReportage.com to see more - Finding that the kind of huge medical-aid missions American charities send overseas are just as necessary within our borders, Remote Area Medical has provided free health to over 350,000 patients worldwide - approximately two thirds of this total is in the USA. Uninsured or under insured patients lined up for hours - even days - to receive free medical, dental and eye care for the annual Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise County in far Southwest Virginia. The three-day marathon draws people from the coalfields of Appalachia where nearly 20 percent of people lack insurance, according to a 2010 census. Doctors, medical students and other volunteers worked outside their comfort zone to treat the thousands who came to receive care. The clinic is one of several like it in the country, but the Wise RAM has historically seen the most patients. The 2012 event saw more than 5,000 people, with doctors performing an estimated $1.9 million in free care, including more than 3,300 tooth extractions, 2,600 medical procedures and 800 eyeglasses made on-site. Although it was founded decades ago to bring medical care to villages in the Amazon rainforest, the group realized how great the need was at home, it now does more than 60 percent of its work in the U.S.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 4, 2013 - Bristol, Tennessee, U.S. - In the pre-dawn hours hundreds of people huddle under the stars as they gather at the gates of the Bristol Motor Speedway for the chance to be seen by volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses with the Remote Area Medical Foundation during a M.A.S.H. style, three-day clinic to give free medical and dental care to those who are uninsured or underinsured.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - In the pre-dawn hours, the first group of people arrive at the triage tent at the Remote Area Medical clinic at Wise County Fairgrounds.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 4, 2013 - Bristol, Tennessee, U.S. - FAITH STATZER, 11, of Bristol, Virginia, lays under her blanket on the pavement as she, her family and hundreds of other people arrive at the gates of the Bristol Motor Speedway.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - TROY COLLIER, of Coeburn, Virginia, brings his 22 year-old son RYAN COLLIER to the triage tent at the Remote Area Medical clinic at Wise County Fairgrounds. RYAN who is taking 20 different medications every day, is living with Cerebral Palsy, hydrocephalus, scoliosis, seizures, a blood disorder and a cyst on his brain, but is here today to see the dentists.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 2, 2013 - Bristol, Tennessee, U.S. - HUNTER BRIGHT, 18, and his girlfriend ASHLEY BEALL, 22, of Marion, Virginia, spend time in their car, after spending the night in the parking lot of the Bristol Motor Speedway. They are waiting overnight for the chance to be seen by volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses with the Remote Area Medical Foundation.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 2, 2013 - Bristol, Tennessee, U.S. - JONATHAN CLEEK, 25, and his wife TONYA CLEEK, 24, of Kingsport, Tennessee, settle in for the night, sleeping under the stars on the hot pavement in the parking lot of the Bristol Motor Speedway. They are joining the hundreds of others in the parking lot who are waiting overnight for the chance to be seen by volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses with the Remote Area Medical Foundation.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
May 4, 2013 - Bristol, Tennessee, U.S. - In the pre-dawn hours, hundreds of people huddle under the stars as they gather at the gates of the Bristol Motor Speedway for the chance to be seen by volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses with the Remote Area Medical Foundation during a M.A.S.H. style, three-day clinic to give free medical and dental care to those who are uninsured or underinsured.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - A dentist worker pauses to look over the scene under the large dentist tent at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a check up and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - Dentist tools are arranged in trays at the Remote Area Medical clinic at Wise County Fairgrounds. Hundreds of people travel for hundreds of miles and sleep in parking lots for days for the chance to get free dental and medical care from this group of volunteer dentists and doctors, some of whom are the best in the world.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - Makeshift medical exam stations are set up with bedsheets held together with string and clothes pins at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a checkup and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - A couple makes their way from the dentist tent at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a checkup and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - Dentists and their assistants work on patients under a large tent at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a checkup and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 21, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - With a printout of his x-ray on his lap, a man gets free dental work done at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a checkup and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - Dentists and their assistants work on patients under a large tent at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a check up and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - A building normally used for the county fair is set up as a makeshift vision exam station at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a check up and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - After having nine of his own teeth pulled just minutes before, CARLOS JOHNSON, 51, holds the hands of his wife SHEILA JOHNSON, 50, both of St. Charles, Virginia., as she has 16 of her teeth pulled out by dentist Dr. Mike Miller at the Remote Area Medical clinic at Wise County Fairgrounds.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 20, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - After having nine of his own teeth pulled just minutes before, CARLOS JOHNSON, 51, holds the hands of his wife SHEILA JOHNSON, 50, both of St. Charles, Va., as she has 16 of her teeth pulled out by dentist Dr. Mike Miller at the Remote Area Medical clinic at Wise County Fairgrounds.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 21, 2013 - Wise, Virginia, U.S. - SARA HOPKINS, 41, of Pikeville, Kentucky, waits to be seen by one of the volunteer doctors for a medical checkup in the makeshift medical exam stations at the Wise County Fairgrounds during the three-day Remote Area Medical clinic for a check up and free vision tests and glasses.
© Rod Lamkey Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Rod Lamkey Jr.

Self-taught photographer ROD LAMKEY JR. started his photojournalism career in 1985 as a freelancer for UPI and AFP in San Francisco. In 1992, he joined the Chicago Tribune as part of their staff, and has worked since then at several newspapers, including The Oakland Tribune, and The Washington Times. Lamkey has devoted two-decades to working on long-term issue-related documentaries affecting society's most vulnerable citizens. He was part of two Pulitzer Prize team-finalists, in 1994 at the Chicago Tribune, and in 2003 at the The Washington Times. He has also won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service, as well as being the recipient of various awards from the White House Newspaper Photographer's Association, the National Press Photographer's Association, and others. He currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Ines. (Credit Image: © Rod Lamkey Jr./ZUMAPRESS.com):487


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