OLEAN — Helping hands are needed to bring Remote Area Medical back to the city this September

The nonprofit Remote Area Medical will return to the Olean Family YMCA on Sept. 13-14 to offer free health care to any and all in need. The local pop-up clinic is a collaboration between the Y and Jamestown Community College.

Volunteers are being sought for the event, organizers said. RAM is in need of volunteer medical, dental and vision professionals to provide services, as well as general support volunteers to help with setup, running the clinic, and taking it down at the end of the weekend. Overnight parking volunteers to greet patients are also needed, and interpreters can volunteer to aid patients through the process in the parking lot or during clinic operations. Volunteers do not need a background in the medical field to volunteer for general support work.

RAM’s clinics are a lifeline for underserved communities, officials said, offering free dental care from cleanings to fillings, eye exams and eyeglasses, and women’s health and general medical exams. All RAM services are free and no ID is required. Services will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Similar clinics in Olean served hundreds of patients in 2021 and 2023. The last free RAM clinic in Olean was hosted at the Y and served 367 patients, including 51 children. Overall, the two clinics allowed more than 600 uninsured and underserved individuals to receive medical, dental, and optical care at the clinics.

Since the nonprofit’s founding in 1985, nearly 1 million patients have received free care through the clinics, providing around $200 million in free care.

For more information on the clinic, visit https://www.ramusa.org/events/olean-new-york/.

Volunteers — as well as organizations interested in volunteering — may visit https://www.ramusa.org/volunteer or call (865) 579-1530 to learn more.