’60 Minutes’ Showed You What We See Every Weekend 

Before the 60 Minutes segment even ended, word reached us that our website had spiked and crashed. We had prepared for a surge, but not for what came. Before the show finished, the site was receiving more than 200 visits per second. People were surprised by what they saw, and they wanted to be involved. 

Friends I have known for years, people I have dinner with here in Knoxville, reached out to say they had no idea Remote Area Medical (RAM®) operated at this scale. “I knew RAM was awesome,” one told me, “but I didn’t understand the magnitude of what you were doing.” This work is important. Millions of people need it. And so many people don’t even know it exists. I don’t think that is anyone’s fault. People have busy lives, and their minds don’t often get to wonder what life is like for someone else. That 12-minute segment gave people a few moments to do exactly that. 

Here is what I hope they saw clearly. RAM is not a makeshift, small-scale screening event where no one actually gets care. People show up in pain. They meet a professional on-site. That professional alleviates the pain. We solve real problems for real people, that weekend, at that event. And the need is far larger than most people imagine. People are desperate. 

That is the uncomfortable truth the coverage brought into focus. People are surprised that in 2026, Americans are still lining up before dawn for free health care in a parking lot. Patients sleep in their cars and wait hours before we even arrive to set up. The need shouldn’t exist at this scale. And yet, here we are. 

I want to be precise about why, because it is easy to misread. Access to insurance and access to care are not the same thing. More than half of our patients have insurance. Having it does not guarantee you access to care. Cost gets in the way. Sometimes there simply isn’t a provider in your area who can perform the service. You can close your eyes and throw a dart at a map of the United States, and wherever it lands, we could open a RAM Clinic and the need would be there. Rural Appalachia. Los Angeles. Chicago. Southern Texas. Someone is in dental pain with no relief. Someone has blurred vision and no way to get glasses. One thing I am proud of is that we ask no questions. If you show up in pain or in need, and we can provide it that weekend, we do our best. 

I think often about a music teacher we served recently. He had grown self-conscious because his students asked about a hole in his teeth. He came hoping for relief, and a provider made it happen. August is coming, and he will have students in front of him again. I want to know if he stands a little differently in front of those kids. Because that was never just a physical issue, and addressing it does not only change the patient. It changes the community around them. 

The people who make that possible come from all walks of life. You do not need a medical background. Show up, and we will train you on-site, and that same day you will watch lives change because of what you gave. What our volunteers give is the most valuable thing they have, which is their time. That is altruism at its finest. 

So what do we do with all of this attention? That is the real question, and a lot of responsibility comes with it. More attention means more donations, and more donations create pressure to make sure every dollar lands in someone’s life. This is not just administration of a program. It is delivery of care. The attention only heightens our responsibility to keep doing what is right and to never drift from our mission. 

There is one barrier worth naming, because leaders can actually change it. So many providers and volunteers are willing to help, and barriers stop them. Letting doctors cross state lines to volunteer their services would open up enormous opportunity for patients in rural and urban communities alike. That flexibility changes the game for how many people can get care. 

A year from now, I want this attention to show up as something concrete. More clinics. More patients served than the year before. RAM reaching communities we have never touched. That is also where I feel the most urgency. Counties have reached out for years that we have not been able to reach. As we grow, we cannot forget the places that feel forgotten, left out, and isolated. We have to bring the providers to them. 

The people changing the world are the ones who volunteer their time and/or choose to support the mission financially. We may not change everything overnight. But for the patients and volunteers at a single clinic, you change their world in 24 hours, and then they go on to change it for someone else. We all have a part to play. We have to step up and play it. 

So if 60 Minutes is how you found us, here is the one thing I want you to understand: RAM is more than a nonprofit. It is a collection of people trying to make the world a better place, day in and day out, one pop-up clinic at a time. And you can be part of it. 

Don’t hold back. Jump in. Volunteer. If your time is taken up, donate. Follow along, see the growth, see the lives change, hear the patients’ stories. When you realize that something you can give will better someone else’s life, it makes all of us more fulfilled and happier people. 

The segment didn’t create our impact. It revealed it to more people. What we do with that is up to all of us.