Free medical clinic planned this weekend at Butler Intermediate High School, setup began Friday
BUTLER TWP — Dozens of volunteers from across, and beyond, Pennsylvania were at work Friday, Nov. 7, transforming the basketball and wrestling gymnasiums at the Butler Intermediate High School into a sprawling, temporary dentist’s office.
The Remote Area Medical clinic, to be held over the weekend of Saturday, Nov. 8 and Sunday, Nov. 9, is expecting to receive hundreds who are looking for medical, dental, and vision care and can’t afford it otherwise.
“It’s totally free, it’s immediate, and it’s local,” said Lynn McKinnis, who is coordinating the clinic on behalf of Concordia Lutheran Services. “The beauty of it is, it’s not complicated. You show up, and you get the services that you need.”
Remote Area Medical is a nationwide network of volunteer-led, pop-up clinics providing free medical, dental, and eye care to those of limited means, including those without insurance.
“Some people cannot afford their premiums or their deductibles or their co-pays, even if they are employed and they have insurance,” McKinnis said. “This enables the gap in health care to be bridged. That’s what RAM clinics are all about.”
This weekend’s clinic marks RAM’s first visit to Butler County in two years, when a clinic was held at the Intermediate High School in November 2023.
“At the first clinic, we had over 300 people attend,” McKinnis said. “We may double that this year.”
While students at the Intermediate High School went about a normal school day, volunteers — many of whom came from hours away to contribute their time and energy — spent much of Monday afternoon assembling 30 tents in the school’s basketball gym. Each of the tents represents a miniature dental office with modern dental equipment.
“This isn’t primitive dental care,” McKinnis said. “This is the same tools and materials that are used in any modern dental office. It's high-quality care, and our dentists are local dentists who are giving up their weekend to do this. All the providers are local dentists and optometrists, so you know you’re getting quality care.”
According to Concordia public relations director Frank Skrip, since there is no pre-registration for the clinic, demand is so high that some go as far as showing up in the parking lot at midnight and waiting six hours for the clinic to open.
“The parking lots open at midnight,” Skrip said. “People will literally line up in the parking lot so that they can make sure they get the first choice of dental or vision. There’s a whole parking lot registration procedure.”
The Remote Area Medical clinic has assembled a virtual army of volunteers. Approximately 400 have signed up to contribute their services throughout the weekend, McKinnis said.
“We have a lot of local volunteer adults, and we also have a lot of local universities that have RAM chapters who have come to help us set up,” McKinnis said.
At least two of those volunteers — Christine and Ivy Nguyen — went well out of their way to contribute. The sisters, who hail from California, attend Touro College of Dental Medicine in Valhalla, N.Y., and drove six hours to Butler.
The sisters say that while this is their first time volunteering at a Remote Area Medical clinic, they have routinely done volunteer work for similar clinics in New York and back home on the West Coast.
“We saw some TikTok videos, and we got some emails from the school advertising RAM at Butler,” Ivy said. “We were like, ‘Oh, that's Pennsylvania. It’s not far away.’ We didn't realize it was six hours. But once we signed up, we just committed to it.”
Doors to the clinic will open at 6 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, with the parking lot opening at midnight.
