Help Provide Free Care
Your gift helps RAM provide free dental, vision, and medical services to people in need.
2025 was a big year for all of us here at Remote Area Medical! Looking back, our year has been full of pop-up clinics, telehealth clinics, patients, volunteers, CORE Volunteers, and so much more. We want to celebrate each accomplishment — from here at headquarters, up to Connecticut, down to Florida, and over to New Mexico, and everywhere in between.
Here are just a few of the things we celebrated throughout the year:
- Our 40th Anniversary — Celebrating 40 years of Health, Hope, and Humanity
- One Million Patients
- 1,700th Expedition
Looking Back at 40 Years of RAM
Can you believe that we’ve been providing free dental, vision, and medical care to patients since 1985? That’s 40 years of patients getting the care they need without having the burden of cost.
From tooth extractions to medical exams, free glasses, and everything in between, we would not have been able to do it without you — our supporters, donors, and volunteers.
Our late founder, Stan Brock, founded Remote Area Medical because he saw there was a need for healthcare globally, and he believed that everyone deserved to have access to free, quality healthcare. No matter where they were in the world.
Stan often said, “Never forget the mission.” And we have worked hard to make sure that Stan’s mission lives on and serves as many people as possible.
Support This Story
Your gift helps RAM continue providing free care to people in need.
We’ve been to more than 40 U.S. states and more than 30 countries internationally, and one thing remains the same, even after all this time — our patients receive quality care, completely free to them.
One Million Patients
Not only did we celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2025, but we also served our millionth patient this year. That’s one million lives across the world changed by free dental, vision, and medical care.
Our millionth patient, Regina, had been without glasses for more than four years. At the RAM free clinic, she was able to get an eye exam and a new pair of glasses that day.
After her exam, when she finally got her new glasses and was able to see clearly for the first time in years, Regina said, “When you go for years without being able to see,” she said, “everything is so beautiful and bright.“
Regina is just one of the million patients who have been able to see a healthcare provider for services at a RAM Clinic. Many of our patients haven’t been able to see a healthcare provider in years, and our clinics provide them with a safe environment to receive the care they need.
We are excited to not only celebrate this milestone, but to do so during our 40th year!
Proclamation from the City of Knoxville
March 15th is now “40 Years of RAM Day” thanks to an official proclamation from Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon. As you know, RAM was originally founded in Knoxville, Tennessee, and many of our expeditions, including many of our telehealth clinics, take place in Knoxville.
We are so grateful for this recognition from the city and cannot wait to continue serving Knoxville and surrounding communities at our upcoming events. Including our annual clinic at the Jacob Building on February 6-8.
Living the Giving Telethon
We held our first telethon in July of this year. The Living the Giving Telethon streamed live for 8 hours on all of RAM’s social media platforms. Throughout the night our Chief Development Officer, Ron Day, and our guest host, Bill Scott, raised thousands of dollars in donations, thanks to a matching donation from the Foxwynd Foundation. We shared behind the scenes content, interviews with patients, volunteers, staff, and RAM Board Members, and much more.
This event helped us bring in donations that will allow RAM to continue bringing free, quality dental, vision, and medical care to those in need. If you missed our first-ever live telethon, don’t worry, you can still stream it!
Volunterns
This summer we had 11 volunteer interns — or ‘Volunterns’ — join us at Headquarters and clinics across the country. Many of these students are looking to join the medical field in the future. They spent their summer as mentees and volunteers, with some of the Volunterns even becoming CORE Volunteers once the summer was over.
Each year this program brings us a new group of students dedicated to RAM’s mission, and we could not be more grateful for them. Learn more about the Voluntern program here.
To our Volunterns, thank you for spending your summer with us, we look forward to seeing you at clinics!
Going Viral on Social Media
RAM went viral on social media this year! Did you see our biggest TikTok video of the year? We gained more than 20,000 followers from one video — that’s 20,000+ people who learned about RAM!
Not only did people learn about our mission, but some patients even found a clinic near them through these videos. Like Grace in Pennsylvania who saw our TikTok video and learned there was a clinic happening just down the road from her.
If you haven’t already, make sure to follow us. You don’t want to miss out on our next viral moment!
RAM Merch
RAM’s merchandise store went live online earlier this year. We’ve seen so many of you rocking your new gear. RAM’s merch is a great way to get the word out about our mission, and an easy way to support us through your online shopping.
We have sweatshirts, shirts, hats, mugs, coffee cups, and more available on our website. Be sure to check it out!
We’re Expanding — Two New Buildings
As the demand for services keeps growing, so do we! Earlier this year we moved into two new buildings right next to our headquarters in Rockford. This additional 50,000 square feet will give us the capacity to store more equipment, maintain more mobile units, and bring more clinics to communities in need.
RAM’s Telehealth Program and Expedition #1,700
Our telehealth program started in 2020 and has been growing ever since. In its fifth year, the program added another vehicle to its fleet, allowing RAM to continue expanding the hybrid telehealth model across Tennessee.
In 2025, the Telehealth Team brought free healthcare to patients all throughout Tennessee. Including holding clinic #1,700 in Athens, Tennessee earlier this month!
With more than 4,000 patients served, this program allows us to bring care directly to patients in need — meeting them where they are. All they need to do is speak with the on-site nurse before they’re virtually connected to physician.
Have you checked our schedule for 2026? RAM’s Telehealth Team is scheduled to serve patients at multiple locations every week through March!
Our Newest Magazine in Now Available
Have you checked your mailbox recently? Your copy of RAM’s magazine might be there waiting for you. If you haven’t received it yet, that’s okay! You can download it for free right now. Just click here to receive your free copy!
With a look back at our founder, Stan Brock, and why he started RAM, a look into what our CORE Team and denture team have been up to, and so much more, you won’t want to miss this special 40th anniversary edition.
Join us in looking back at all of the things we have accomplished together since 1985!
Looking Back at 2025 and Now Forward to 2026
We are so excited to keep going in 2026. With more than 150 pop-up and telehealth clinics scheduled across the country, we hope to see you at one of our clinics.
As we continue to serve patients, we want to thank you for your continued support of our mission. Without your support, donations, and continued volunteer efforts, none of this would have been possible. Each of the million patients we served, and the millions to come after them, are thanks to your continued support.
As you may know, RAM does not receive government funds; all our funding comes from generous donors like yourself, corporate partners, and charitable grants. If you would like to donate to RAM and help us serve the next million patients, please click here. We invite you to become monthly donors, making your impact go even further.
Volunteers are the backbone of our mission. Every clinic is made possible because of the hard work and dedication of the more than 230,000 volunteers that have worked with us along the way. If you would like to volunteer with RAM at one of our upcoming events, please click here.
Have you seen our other blog posts? Be sure to catch up on any posts you may have missed. There’s a new one every week!
Add RAM to your Walmart Spark Good account to round up your change on purchases to benefit RAM!
There was so much to celebrate this year, and there’s even more to look forward to next year. See you in 2026!
