Remote Area Medical: Transforming Lives with Pop-up Clinics for Healthcare Access

Max, a 17-year-old high school student living on his own in a rundown part of town, had been limping for months. Between his schoolwork and his evening job at the grocery store, he couldn’t find the time or money to go to a doctor to get his in-grown toenail removed. He also had braces on his teeth that hadn’t been adjusted in years. His school guidance counselor heard that Remote Area Medical was setting up a no-cost medical/dental/vision clinic at a nearby junior college over the weekend and encouraged Max to go. Max rode his bike there and within a short period of time, his in-grown toenail was fixed, he got new glasses with a new prescription and his braces were removed from his teeth. Those procedures alone would have been life-changing for Max, but his story doesn’t end there. The junior college where the clinic was held heard about everything Max had gone through, and they offered him free tuition and housing. The trajectory of his life was completely changed.