December 5, 2014 US/Pacific
Remote Area Medical
Award-winning documentary,
submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 87th Academy Awards©.
Los Angeles, CA -
SYNOPSIS:
During the U.S. debate about healthcare reform, the media - reporters, news crews and filmmakers - failed to put a human
face on what it means to not have access to healthcare. REMOTE AREA MEDICAL fills that gap - it is a film about people, not
policy.
Focusing on a single three-day clinic held in the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL affords us an
insider's perspective on the ebb and flow of the event-from the tense 3:30 a.m. ticket distribution that determines who gets
seen to the routine check-ups that take dramatic turns for the worse, to the risky means to which some patients resort for
pain relief.
We meet a doctor who also drives an 18-wheeler, a denture maker who moonlights as a jeweler, and the organization's founder,
Stan Brock, who first imagined Remote Area Medical while living as a cowboy in the Amazon rainforest, hundreds of miles from
the nearest doctor. But it is the extraordinary stories of the patients, desperate for medical attention, that create a
lasting impression about the state of modern health care in America.
Stan Brock makes one of the most poignant comments found in the entire documentary of Remote Area Medical
when he states that when first starting RAM, its focus was to serve the underserved, isolated areas in
the world; but, now, most of his efforts are in the United States because the need is so great.
Stan would know what he's talking about seeing that he has been providing his services for 30 years.
RAM is touching as well as eye-opening to the difficulites that some Americans have at obtaining adequate
healthcare services: from simple eye examinations to dental care! Citizens from the state of Tennessee were willing to drive
hundreds of miles and wait days to see a doctor. Because of limited time and resources, many of the needful people had to be
turned away.
Filmmakers Jeff Reichert & Farihah Zaman chronicled one particular RAM event that was held in Bristol, Tennessee.
They, Reichert and Zaman, gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how the event is managed and executed. More than that, though,
Reichert and Zaman allowed us to follow the journey of some of the patients as they shared their utmost hopes and the aftereffects
of the procedures they received.
Considering the pressing case of healthcare in America, Remote Area Medical
is a must see film. It gives a very needed look at some of the hard information that needs to be examined about the current state of
affairs in relation to the US health system.
Regardless on which side one finds oneself, the film is a true conversation starter. And, in regards to Stan Brock and his
RAMUSA.ORG, he - and it - should be held up as a shining
example of the American Citizen's tenacity of standing up and doing what is right.
Gus Summers is the Host and Broadcast Producer for The "IN Show, an entertaining broadcast that covers all things exciting and enlightening.
When Gus isn't busy covering current events and interesting people, you'll see him out and about enjoying all that the City of Angels has to offer.
For any questions, comments, or program ideas, he can be reached at gus@theinshow.com.
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