UC students organize free health clinic to help the community
UC chapter of Remote Medical Access helps uninsured patients obtain care
In July 2022, Vishwa Ramu, a senior in the UC College of Medicine’s undergraduate Medical Sciences program, joined members of the volunteer group Remote Area Medical (RAM) to help at a free clinic in the small north-central Tennessee town of Livingston. At the clinic he helped guide patients to ensure they received the care they needed and helped make prescription eyeglasses for people.
“It was an incredible experience and being able to help give underserved communities free health care as an undergrad was a rare opportunity,” Ramu recalls of his experience two years ago. “It was incredibly rewarding to be a part of the process that led to patients receiving prescription glasses on site the same day they got examined.”
When he returned to UC to begin his second year in the Medical Sciences program, he wanted to share the opportunity to help others with fellow students, so he founded the Cincinnati Chapter of RAM. RAM is an international volunteer program that provides free health care services to people in need through a series of pop-up clinics throughout the United States.
So far, more than 100 UC students from the Colleges of Medicine, Arts and Sciences, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning and Nursing have participated in RAM clinics across the country, including in Hazard, Kentucky; Livingston and Columbia, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, West Virginia; and Emory, Virginia. Their latest effort was a two-day clinic held July 27 and 28 at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, where the group provided care for 235 people.
Vishwa Ramu at the July Remote Access Medical free clinic at Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School. Photos provided.
“We’ve spent the past year and a half finding the venue, arranging accommodations for volunteers, raising money through sponsors, searching for providers and promoting the clinic to the public,” says Ramu, who continues to serve as RAM chapter president. “This has been a long journey, but I’m so excited to have the opportunity to provide the care for the people in the community I grew up with.”
Leading the effort at the recent clinic with Ramu was fellow Cincinnatian and Medical Sciences Senior Rishi Gabbita. He joined RAM in May 2023 and volunteered at the chapter’s first clinic in Hazard, Kentucky, in June 2023, where he worked in the vision lab creating custom glasses for patients.
Gabbita says that experience resonated with him “as something special.” The clinic in Cincinnati also helped him understand that the difficulty of gaining access to medical care is ubiquitous and not just confined to remote areas of the country.
Fourth-year Medical Science student Rishi Gabbita.
“This problem existed right in my backyard, my home for 21 years,” he says.
Ramu and Gabbita helped set up the entire clinic at St. Xavier High School. They found the venue (Ramu is a 2021 St. X graduate), raised funds, identified local providers willing to volunteer, found housing and food for volunteers from outside of Cincinnati who participated and promoted the clinics to the community. Gabbita was the sponsorship chair for the clinic, raising more than $32,000 for the event. The clinic was supported by about 200 volunteers, including UC students, students from RAM chapters at Ohio State University and Indiana University, volunteers from the Cincinnati area and other RAM chapters.
The volunteers worked under the supervision of local community physicians, dentists and health providers. There were about 20 dentists and hygienists, five ophthalmologists and optometrists and about 10 physicians, nurse practitioners and residents providing care.
Dental care provided included tooth extractions, fillings, cleanings and X-rays while vision care included eye exams. Some patients received eyeglasses that were made on-site. Patients also were given medical check-ups and exams, as well as bloodwork that was sent to a lab to be analyzed (with results provided later to patients). HIV testing also was performed and some patients received fentanyl test strips and Narcan.
Among other medical sciences students who are UC RAM chapter members working at the clinic were Hannah Lauck, Samir Mamlouk, Sanniya Khan and Megan Luallen, all members of the Class of 2025. Several UC medical students also participated.
“It is a delight to see students like Vishwa, Rishi, Hannah, Samir, Sanniya and Megan make a difference in health care where it has a huge positive impact on the lives of patients. They actually live the values of the college’s Medical Sciences Program through work they are doing,” says Anil Menon, PhD, associate dean for undergraduate education.
With the success of the recent clinic, Ramu and Gabbita hope that it continues to be held annually in the future. The UC RAM chapter expects to participate in a clinic in Columbus this fall and in other RAM clinics outside Cincinnati.
Volunteers from the UC chapter of the volunteer group Remote Area Medical help care for 235 people during a free clinic at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati July 27 and 28. Photos provided.
Both Ramu and Gabbita are planning careers in medicine. Ramu is now applying to medical schools, and the UC College of Medicine is one of his top choices.
“I’ve loved the community here in Cincinnati and that is part of what makes me so passionate to give this care to our home. I would love to spend another four years at UC,” he says.
Ramu also has worked as a patient care assistant at UC Health as part of the UC Healthcare Exploration Program. The program provides UC students with an immersive medical experience during their undergraduate education to help decide whether they want to continue medical training.
Gabbita is part of UC’s Connections BS/MD program and will matriculate into the College of Medicine‘s Doctor of Medicine program in July 2025 as part of the Class of 2029.
Ramu says working in the RAM clinics has helped him understand how much of a need there is for this type of care.
“We ended up serving 235 patients and provided over $155,000 worth of services and I still could not help but think about how we reached capacity and had to turn some patients away because of the sheer amount that showed up,” he says. “I am motivated to do even more as I become a physician and help at these clinics and beyond to ensure that those in need can receive care.”
Watch a WLWT, Channel 5, segment about the clinic.
Featured photo includes several student members of the UC chapter of Remote Area Medical. Photos courtesy of Vishwa Ramu.
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