BY J.P. DUCRO IV
Commissioner
Ashtabula County
On Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12, Ashtabula County will be hosting their SEVENTH Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic, this year at Lakeside Junior High School.
In 2025, Ashtabula RAM served 451 unique individuals who received over $336,906 worth of free care, and we know there are many more that could benefit.
This brings the total over six years of the clinic to 4,615 patients receiving free care valued at $2,734,766, including thousands of pairs of glasses, dental extractions and fillings, and hundreds of teeth cleanings, and medical exams.
RAM provides FREE medical, dental, and vision care to the uninsured or under insured in our community.
For many, this may be the only opportunity they have this year to receive such services.
In dental, services such as cleanings, fillings, and extractions can be provided, while in vision, a patient can receive an eye exam, a prescription, select their own frames, and have prescription glasses made for them while they wait.
These are benefits Medicaid and many insurance programs often do not cover.
On the medical side, services such as general medical, women’s health, dermatology, and chiropractic are typically available. In addition, there will be a limited number of vouchers for free pet spay/neuter and vaccination services as well as human haircuts provided by licensed beauticians.
Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis with doors opening at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cars may get a place in line by arriving anytime after midnight the day of the clinic, but they will be required to wait until the doors open and cannot leave and return later with their place held in line. Patients can wait in their cars until it is their turn when they will be given a text notification to come inside for services.
Numerous agencies and organizations will be stationed in a community resource area with information to help with food insecurity, housing, addiction, healthcare, education, and much more. Our local health departments will also be available to provide vaccinations.
We certainly encourage you to consider spreading the word about the event, sharing the details, volunteering (through the www.RAMUSA.org website), making others aware of the event if they could benefit from the services provided, or offering a monetary contribution which can be done by making a check out to Civic Development Corporation (CDC) and putting RAM Ashtabula in the comments section and mailing it to CDC at P.O. Box 131, Ashtabula, OH 44005-0131.
