Healthcare in rural Alabama may be a little more available today. The state’s Remote Area Medical Clinic will operate for the first time in Alabama in Gadsden this weekend. The rolling facility will be at Gadsden City High School to provide medical, dental, and vision care. Angela Anderson is with the East Central Alabama Area Health Education Center. She says her organization is holding the event to encourage medical students to practice in rural areas.
“We were thinking, how can we get a lot of students to experience the rural patient and the rural need at once? We came up with this idea of having a mission weekend at home,” said Anderson.
Organizers of the Remote Area Clinic emphasize that patients need not have insurance or demonstrate the ability to pay in order to get treatment.
“This is one of the only experiences in the United States where there is no barrier to care whatsoever,” Anderson observed. “We do not ask for any sort of identification, license, health insurance or copay. There is no money exchanged whatsoever.”
Patients can begin waiting for care in Gadsden City High School’s parking lot at midnight Saturday and Sunday mornings. The clinic will open at 6 AM and close at 6 PM each day.
