JAMESTWON, N.Y. — RAM is an 18-wheeler from just outside Nashville, Tennessee.

"It used to be a car hauler, NASCAR car hauler," said Brad Hutchins, clinic coordinator, Remote Area Medical.

What You Need To Know

  • Remote Area Medical rolling into Jamestown this weekend

  • The clinic runs Saturday, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, 6 a.m.-1 p.m.

  • Services are free to the public

It has since been donated, remodeled top to bottom and used as storage for Remote Area Medical, RAM's full name, a traveling pop-up clinic and lab that offers free medical, dental and vision services to communities across the nation, like Jamestown.

"Each individual, each family, each community that we encounter, everyone has their individual barriers that limit them, whether it's just access or financial," said Hutchins. "No matter what that burden is for the individual, it doesn't matter."

Volunteers spent Friday setting up SUNY Jamestown Community College's gym and hauling in needed supplies for a weekend that campus health leaders call a landmark moment.

"We know we have a population who desperately needs these services," said Christine Schuyler, community host, SUNY JCC. "We have refugees, we have migrants, we have our underserved population who really, really will benefit from these services."

Not only is access to care an issue, but so is a shortage of health care providers, leaving clinics like this to bridge the gaps in care. 

"I think this is one important piece of a big puzzle," said Schuyler. "Our health care system in our nation is very complicated. For our patients that come through these clinics, many of them are in tears. They've never been able to access this sort of care before."

It's care that's immediate — something not only lacking in many urban areas, but also across the state's rural populations. 

"Many people rely on hospital emergency rooms for their care because they are unable to get that general care, primary care from birth to death in an easy manner," said Paula Snyder, community host, SUNY JCC.

Which is why clinics like RAM can help reverse that, and put the wheels in motion to easier access.

"We're merely a safety net," said Hutchins. "It's a network of neighbors helping neighbors."

From Jamestown, it's back to Tennessee before RAM heads off to Maryland.

The clinic will take place Saturday from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Sunday from 6 a.m.-1 p.m.

RAM has also made stops in Cattaraugus and Washington counties.