A community host group of Ashland volunteers, working in collaboration with Remote Area Medical (RAM®), a major nonprofit provider of free mobile medical clinics, is once again hosting a free medical clinic at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham this August 10th and 11th.  

Staffed by licensed volunteer medical providers, community partners, and translators, the clinic will offer a range of health services, including dental, vision, and primary medical care, at no cost to its patients on a first come, first served basis.  Assistance with insurance enrollment and follow-up medical care will be offered as well, along with information and enrollment for social services programs, such as SNAP benefits.  

Last year’s clinic was a huge success, providing 450 dental, medical, and vision services to over 300 individual patients in a single weekend.   In its second year, the community host group, led by Jay Byrnes of Ashland, expects to be able to serve even more members of Ashland and Framingham.

“I think that our clinic last August raised awareness in the community of the acute need for affordable medical services in our area. At that clinic, we served 316 individuals, and we hope to provide services to even more people at our upcoming clinic in August.”

 Planning and staffing the clinic is an ongoing effort that involves the recruitment and coordination of over 200 volunteers from local health systems, provider groups, local health centers, and other individuals from the community for outreach, logistics, and general support.  All of these volunteers are crucial to providing the medical services and perform essential functions, such as data entry, patient registration, logistics and language translation.  There is a particular need for Spanish, Portuguese and Creole interpreters.

Those looking to help make the clinic a success by volunteering can register at the RAM volunteer recruitment website (https://volunteer.ramusa.org).  Financial donations can be made through the event’s fiscal sponsor, the Community Foundation for Metrowest ( www.communityfoundationmw.org/donate/ and specify RAM Framingham Clinic August 2024 as the “Other Fund” you wish to support).