Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Free clinic draws hundreds of patients

Kentucky is 99.8% fluoridated: "Since Pike County's first Remote Area Medical clinic was held in 2008, the size of the endeavor has more than doubled. That's partly due to an economic downturn that reached a low point in the past two years, said Dr. Bill Collins, a Pikeville dentist and Kentucky's RAM chapter leader.

Even medical professionals didn't realize the need until they saw hundreds of people camped out for a dental checkup or new eyeglasses, he said.

'Everyone perceived this as taking money out of their pockets, and I hate to say it that way,' Collins said. 'But once they became involved in it, and they saw that the people we were treating were not the patients that came into your office.'

The patients have the free clinic or nothing, he said."