UVA volunteers assist in medical care clinic for rural Virginians

University News

UVA volunteers assist in medical care clinic for rural Virginians

Dawn Milliner and her husband, Anthony, left Charlottesville at 2 a.m. on Saturday. An hour later, they were in line at the Augusta Expo Center in Fishersville – early enough, they hoped, to be seen by medical professionals at a University of Virginia student-led Remote Area Medical clinic.

“I made an eye appointment, but they can’t see me until August,” Milliner said. “I need glasses now.”

By the end of the day, she had them. An eye doctor had also discovered she has cataracts, a diagnosis she might not have received for months without the clinic.

The Milliners were among more than 550 patients served at the third Remote Area Medical clinic in Fishersville on March 21-22, organized by the UVA chapter of RAM.

Dawn Milliner, a Charlottesville resident, tries on frames at the RAM clinic in Fishersville. Milliner and her husband, Anthony, received dental, medical and vision care at no cost and left with new glasses the same day. (Photo by Jeff Gleason)

Staffed by more than 200 volunteers, including UVA undergraduates, medical students, alumni and UVA Health providers, the two-day event delivered free dental, vision and medical care valued at $334,380, according to the UVA RAM executive board. No insurance or ID was required.

“If you want to give me your name as ‘SpongeBob SquarePants,’ we’ll still take a look at your teeth,” said Katherine Ladocsi, who co-founded the UVA chapter of RAM in 2019 and returned this weekend as an alumna. Ladocsi is now a third-year dental student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she started the school’s RAM chapter.

Ladocsi traces her path to dental school to a RAM clinic held in Harrisonburg in 2021, where she spent eight hours volunteering in a dental tent and had to be pulled out at the end of the day. “I just felt a true calling to it,” she said.

RAM clinics are organized by local community host groups – RAM itself only goes where it’s invited. The UVA chapter recruits volunteers and helps facilitate the clinic each year. Ladocsi helped identify Fishersville as the right location, saying the area had fallen through the cracks of existing clinics like Emporia and Harrisonburg. “The Charlottesville, Fishersville, Waynesboro area was kind of missed,” she said. “So, we were like, ‘Let’s go there.’”

A warehouse full of tents for each temporary patient room

A dentist and assistant treat a patient in one of the dental tents at the Fishersville RAM clinic on Saturday. Dental services included cleanings, extractions and dentures. (Photo by Jeff Gleason)

As the third and largest yet, this year’s Fishersville clinic required more than a year and a half of planning and more than $30,000 in fundraising, led by community host co-leads Ria Raval and Taylor Krafchick. The two coordinated venue logistics, provider recruitment, volunteer meals and housing for RAM’s national headquarters staff.

“In this area in particular, a lot of people don’t have access to health insurance,” Krafchick said. She graduated from UVA in December with a degree in applied statistics. “This clinic reduces that barrier.”

Beyond providing core dental, vision and medical services, this year’s clinic offered additional resources. Free testing for infections spread through sex was offered through the Virginia Department of Health’s mobile unit; blood sugar testing from Augusta Health; flu vaccines from Sentara Health; audiology screening through the Lions Club; chiropractic care; and food distributions from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Food Lion.

Volunteers assembled 400 packages with toiletries, dental kits and hygiene products for patients to take home. A partnership with Bright Bus added transit stops at the venue to provide access for patients across the Staunton, Waynesboro and Harrisonburg region.

Ann McQueen Blair, a clinical instructor of nursing at UVA and a nurse practitioner who volunteered in the medical tent, spent the weekend conducting gynecological exams, contraceptive consultations, and evaluations for hypertension, migraines, and orthopedic issues.

One case stood out to her. A veteran who had not accessed his benefits arrived believing he’d had a urinary tract infection for the past year. When McQueen Blair checked his blood sugar levels, it registered at 13.6, which is more than double the healthy benchmark, revealing he was a newly diagnosed diabetic.

“We were able to do a lot of referrals back to the free clinic systems in their communities to follow up,” McQueen Blair said.

Portrait of Taylor Krafchick and Ria Raval standing in front of the Remote Area Medical van

Taylor Krafchick and Ria Raval serve as the community host co-leads for the Fishersville RAM clinic. They coordinated venue logistics, fundraising, provider recruitment and housing for RAM’s national headquarters staff. (Photo by Jeff Gleason)

UVA student volunteers didn’t just observe this weekend; they worked. Volunteers sterilized dental tools, cut and shaped lenses in the vision truck, served as scribes in medical tents, interpreted for non-English-speaking patients navigating all three areas and more.

One specialized role was the denture lab, where first-year student Addie Pak volunteered. Pak, who hopes to become a prosthodontist, assisted with patient care for the first time.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be so hands-on,” she said. “You never really get an environment volunteering where you can be hands-on with patients and actually do the work.”

Back in the vision area, Milliner was waiting for her new glasses, with frames she picked out. She had already been seen for medical and dental care.

“These people really do take that time,” she said. “They really do care.”