Volpe's Vision: Unpacking Remote Area Medical's Impact and the Power of Giving

Julia: Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Connect the Knox. I’m Julia Hurley, your host, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Today’s guest is a very special friend of mine, John Volpe, and he is the Chief Development Officer of RAM, Remote Area Medical, in Knox County, which is huge, and we’re going to learn all about it today. Thank you so much for being with us today.

John: Cool. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Julia: Absolutely. Well, the number one question is—people are going to listen to this and go, “What is RAM?” So, let’s just start there. Tell us all about it.

John: So, we do pop-up medical clinics all across the country. We do medical, dental, and vision services for free everywhere. So, I just got back from Houston yesterday. We had a clinic down in North Houston, we saw about 400 patients down there. We do fillings, cleanings, extractions. We do full vision services, comprehensive vision test, and we make glasses on site. And then we always have women’s health and whatever medical volunteers join up, if they have a specialty like oncology or whatever, we provide that also.

Julia: Well, that—wow.

John: Yeah.

Julia: So—wow. That’s huge.

John: [laugh] Yeah, we’ve—

Julia: That’s huge, John. That’s huge.

John: We’ve had over 900,000 patients since we started doing it. So.

Julia: Wow. Okay, where do you get your volunteers?

John: So, all over the country. We have about twenty-one, twenty-two thousand this year so far, and they come from everywhere, you know, from New York to California. Wherever we have our clinics is generally where most of the volunteers will be. We operate on a community host group basis, so a community will invite us out to have this clinic. It takes about 12 to 18 months to plan out a clinic, and when we go there, there will usually be around 250 volunteers for the weekend. Our clinics only operate on Saturdays and Sundays; sometimes Friday through Sunday, but it’s usually Saturday and Sunday.

Julia: I mean, my jaw is dropping right now. I had no idea this organization was this big, and right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. How did that come to be?

John: So, Stan Brock founded us. He was on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. He’s the guy who wrestled the anacondas, and alligators, and all that fun stuff. And back then, that show came out in the ’60s and lasted through the ’70s, and he became very famous, made a lot of money, but his heart was always into giving back to communities. And he founded Remote Area Medical back in 1985.

Originally it was set up so we’d go to different countries and give the services, but he got a phone call in 1992 from the mayor of Sneedville, Tennessee, saying, “Hey, our last dentist just moved out, our hospital closed, we need some help.” So, he rounded up some dentists and threw a dental chair in the back of a truck and went down to Sneedville and took care of about 65 people. And that’s how it all started, and our phone hasn’t stopped ringing since. So—

Julia: Gosh.

John: Yeah, it’s crazy.

Julia: That is crazy. And I—so, this whole podcast, truly I started this podcast just during Covid. It was something to do. I wanted to educate all these people moving into Knoxville, and kind of what’s going on, what Knoxville has to offer, why Knoxville is so important, why it’s so attractive, and why it’s a hidden gem. And so, I was like, all of these “whys,” and then I had to connect the whys with the who. Well, who can answer these questions?

And every single time I have a referral—like you were referred to me by Julie over at the Farragut Chamber to be a member of this podcast—it’s like I learn—I’ve been here my whole life and I did not even know this existed. So, it is such an interesting endeavor to introduce the nation to Knoxville, and the hold that it has on, truly, the Volunteer State, and giving everything back that it has. And every person I talk to has the same story. It’s like, this is what we do for the community, and for the nation, and for these people, and some random person in a small town started it, and just started it truly coming from contribution.

John: Mm-hm.

Julia: It’s amazing.

John: We still rely on donors, you know, small and large. We don’t get any federal funding, we don’t take any state grants or anything like that, so that’s important to us. Our community is a large part of what we do, especially in the Knoxville area because we have our first clinic of the year here every year. And we usually see anywhere from 1000 to 1500 patients, [and it’ll be in January 00:05:09].

Julia: So, where will the—is the clinic in the same place every time?

John: Yeah, it’s at the Jacob Building.

Julia: Okay.

John: —[crosstalk 00:05:17] Park. And we’ve done it there every year for 22 years now, so.

Julia: Interesting. So… I have so many questions, but I want to make sure I ask directed questions, so it’s a conversation and not just me being curious. Because of course, this is a reason for the podcast, but I just have so many questions. How did you end up in this position to—like, how did, how did you just say, “Okay, this is what I’m doing with—this is what I want to do now. It’s my passion.” How did you end up here?

John: I have been volunteering with RAM since about 2014. I was doing some tequila dinners at [unintelligible 00:05:57] as a small fundraiser for RAM. And then one day, the guy that was in my position back then walked up to me and said, “Hey, can you do this for 250 people?” And I said, “No. There’s no way I can do a tequila dinner for 250 people [unintelligible 00:06:16] my restaurant.”

And I thought about it for a week or so, and I came up with the idea of the Southern Tequila and Taco Festival. And so, we’ve held that every year since 2015. And it’s coming up April twenty… I think it’s 25th. It’s the last Friday in April. I can’t [unintelligible 00:06:40] date, sorry.

But we’ve held that fundraiser for a very long time and really enjoy doing that. And getting to know all the people at RAM over the years, I just fell in love with it. And I talked with Jeff, the CEO, a few years back, and he offered me the position and I said yes, and here I am now. So.

Julia: That’s amazing.

John: Yeah.

Julia: So, is that your biggest fundraiser?

John: Yes, that is.

Julia: Then tell us more about that because that seems—that’s in Knoxville, right?

John: Yes, that’s in Farragut, actually.

Julia: All right, tell us everything we need to know [laugh].

John: [laugh] So, it is the largest tequila festival on the East Coast. And we… generally, we run anywhere from 1000, 2000 people coming through. A couple of years ago, I had it in July because of Covid. Wound up with about 2500 people there, and it was just too many people for too small of a place, so I moved it over to the Campbell Station Inn Park, and—it’s actually called Ralph McGill Plaza—last year, and Visit Farragut became a sponsor for us. And that turned out to be the best location we could have asked for because there’s plenty of parking. And the festival runs from five until nine. I always have live music, we have about 200 different tequilas, [unintelligible 00:08:08], mezcals, every Mexican beer you can think of, plus we had about a dozen restaurants and about seven food trucks selling tacos. So, that’s a really fun time.

Julia: So, what is the cost to get in? Is there, like, a VIP section? Can people, like, extra donate for something?

John: Yes, so general admission is $60, designated drivers are $20, and advanced general admission gets you in an hour early, and that $75.

Julia: Nice.

John: And all the money goes to RAM. So, we get sponsors to pay for the tents and all the expensive stuff, and that way all the ticket sales can go directly to RAM.

Julia: That’s amazing.

John: Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun.

Julia: Yeah. And how much average do you raise on that fundraiser?

John: About 70,000 a year.

Julia: Nice.

John: Yeah.

Julia: What does $70,000 cover?

John: So, that goes to our general [funding 00:09:05] so we can put on these clinics everywhere. So, like, the Knoxville clinic is hosted by us, RAM, so that money goes to cover those expenses. Because generally a clinical run is anywhere from 20 to $50,000 a day to put on a clinic, and so that’s pretty expensive, and so we [try to 00:09:27] cover those costs.

Julia: Well, medical care is not cheap. That’s for sure.

John: No, it’s not. It’s really not. But it’s [unintelligible 00:09:34], obviously.

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Julia: So, I’m going to ask you a question, uh… and I don’t want to go to a dark place on a positive podcast, but I want to know the answer. Without these services, what would happen to these communities? What do you think, without free medical care, without—I mean, what would happen?

John: A lot of people would wind up in the emergency room at their local hospitals, still with no way to get any care. People go into an emergency room, and as soon as they walk in the door, it costs somebody 2500 bucks, and that’s without even seeing that provider. So, if they have an abscessed tooth, there’s nothing they can do for them. If they have, you know, cracked teeth, there’s not a dentist in the emergency room. You know, somebody breaks our glasses, they’re not going to do anything for them. So, we try to step in and provide those things for people.

Julia: Interesting.

John: Yeah. Yeah.

Julia: Yeah. I mean, that’s truly a service. That’s a—I mean, not that every other community isn’t being served by whatever not-for-profit, but I had no idea. I genuinely am—me and you having this conversation as if I—I’ve just never—I didn’t even know this existed.

John: Yeah.

Julia: This is something I’m grateful that I’ve never needed, but did not know it existed. So, what changes in the community are you seeing? Are you seeing, like. Are you seeing more of a socio-economic disadvantage? Are you seeing a language barrier disadvantage? What is really and truly, like, your biggest opportunity, that’s a challenge that can be filled by the community around you?

John: Well, getting volunteers is one of the biggest challenges we have. People just don’t have the time to do it. And, you know, unfortunately, these people need care, they need interpreters. We have a very large Hispanic population here, we have a Vietnamese population, so getting those interpreters at the clinics is a challenge. And we use interpretation services when we have to, but we can’t always get that because there’s not a great internet connection out of Jacob Building. So, you know, we have a challenge in getting volunteers out there, be that doctors or whatever the case may be. But general volunteers are desperately needed, even if it’s just patient registration or guiding—

Julia: So—yeah, that’s what I was going to ask. Do they have to be medically licensed?

John: No.

Julia: Is there—

John: Absolutely not. We need, like I said, interpreters, we need guides that will walk people to different areas of the clinic, show them where to go, patient registration, patient checkout. So no, they don’t have to have any kind of medical background.

Julia: Got you. Got you.

John: [We need people working the 00:13:01] parking lot, you know? So.

Julia: Well, I’m hearing two things in here. I’m hearing KUB has an opportunity to donate some internet to the Jacobs Building [laugh].

John: [laugh]. Yeah, they could. That would be [crosstalk 00:13:15].

Julia: There’s an opportunity for a donation there, KUB [laugh]. And you need volunteers. And as Knox County continues to grow—so let me ask you this. How do people even get there? I mean, are they using ETHRA? I mean, what services get people to this location?

John: You know, we generally have shuttles running, but it’s right on the bus line, so people can take the bus out there. That’s always a challenge for a lot of people is getting to the clinics. But really, the city steps in and helps us out with that also.

Julia: Knoxville City has been doing amazing—

John: Yeah.

Julia: —over the last few years, for sure, just stepping it up on behind the scenes with a lot of different things.

John: They just did a rehash of their whole bus transportation route, and I think what they’ve done is look at where they need people to be, and how people need to get to where they’re going, and I think they did a great job with it. And they’ve really involved the public in it. I think they had six different public meetings for that, and it’s great to see them do it, and get people in places they need to go.

Julia: So, does RAM have any opportunity to go—so you have any location. How is it, or is it even viable for you all to take this, like, do you have, like, a hospital in a bus kind of thing—

John: No.

Julia: —or is it just a location [per 00:14:39]?

John: It just happens to be where we’re located. We do offer telehealth. We have a truck that has two full medical bays in it, and we go to rural areas, and just set up and see who ever shows up. And so, people get their, you know, insulin refills, they can get a checkup, they can do whatever they need to do medically with that telehealth truck. So we’re—

Julia: That’s one of—that’s something that I have seen a growing need for is insulin.

John: Yeah.

Julia: Yeah. I mean, a diabetic—type one diabetic, let’s just say, somebody has no choice, type one diabetic. They’re looking at, for good insulin, like $1,000 a month.

John: Yeah, easy.

Julia: Yeah, easily. So, is this something that is covered, like, regularly, or is it just every now and again?

John: No, it’s not. You know, we try to set up at the same places when we can, but unfortunately, we got to go where we can, and we have to find places to set up the telehealth. And, you know, we’ve got a lot of innovation as far as what we’re doing, and cutting edge stuff that we’re doing. We’re next—first quarter of next year, we’ll be rolling out a mobile digital denture lab where we’ll be able to make dentures on site. And so, we 3D print them—we get the impressions from the patients, we 3D print them, we fit them the next day, so they’ve got a full set of dentures the next day, which is pretty awesome.

Julia: That is pretty awe—I mean, that’s unheard of.

John: Yeah.

Julia: That’s amazing. What a service. How can people find you? Like, is there a specific place where people can go every day and be like, “Where are they going to be today or this week?”

John: No, we only operate on the weekends. We have a full schedule at ramusa.org, and you can find our clinic schedule there. Next year, we’ll be having one, like I said, in January at the Jacob Building, and I believe it’ll be in February out in Oak Ridge we’ll have another clinic. So unfortunately, we don’t just have a place, brick and mortar, where we just open the doors and see people. It’s only weekend pop-up events all over the country.

Julia: Yeah. That’s amazing.

John: Yeah, we usually do a clinic in Coalfield every year, we set up several in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, so we’re all over the Appalachians all the time.

Julia: What best opportunities just, say, a regular person can give to RAM?

John: Donate or volunteer. Those are the two biggest things we need is money and volunteers. So, anybody out there that has the time, or if you want to learn more about us, we actually have a movie premiere tonight at Regal Cinemas, in Turkey Creek, Downtown West in downtown, and it’s called Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story. And if you want to learn more about RAM, go see that movie. It’s really eye-opening.

Julia: Is there—is that going to be available anywhere outside of the movie theaters?

John: Not yet, but eventually we’re hoping to get it on streaming services.

Julia: I think that’s an amazing story.

John: Yeah.

Julia: So, you took over in your position, you’ve grown it, you’re growing the fundraising part of it. Are there opportunities outside of that one big fundraiser for people to get involved? Are there other fundraisers throughout the year?

John: No, I’m not doing any of the fundraisers yet, but we will be. It just takes time and patience to get these things done. But yes, donate and volunteer. We have clinics all over the country, if you like to travel. We’re always looking for Corps volunteers to train, or other volunteers in different areas of the clinics, and that’s a great opportunity for people. If you’d like to travel, if you’re retired, it gives you something to do, and it’s a lot of fun.

Julia: [laugh] It sounds like a service that is sorely needed and not known in the community. I did not know it existed. I think what you’re doing is unbelievably amazing. Is there anything that you would like for outside entities—because this podcast is mostly listened to outside of Knoxville—so outside entities can we educate, conversat—like, if you’re moving here, get involved, pre… whatever.

John: Yeah. Yeah. So, look at our schedule and see if there’s a clinic coming near you. I highly encourage you to just come visit it. You don’t necessarily have to volunteer for the day, but come see what we’re doing, see how you can get involved, and how you can help because we’re always looking for more people.

Julia: John, this has been one of the most educating podcasts I’ve had so far. I had no idea that this organization was this massive—

John: Oh yeah.

Julia: —and located right here in Knoxville.

John: We’ve provided over $190 million in services since 1992.

Julia: That’s amazing.

John: We want to continue, and we want to keep going, so we need those donors, we need those volunteers. And it’s really, when you’re at a clinic, it is very self-satisfying to see those smiles on the patient’s faces and how nice everybody is. And we’re all there to do one thing, and that’s prevent pain, and alleviate suffering.

Julia: I appreciate that effort. I’m going to switch gears—

John: Okay.

Julia: And ask one question.

John: Sure.

Julia: If—when not if—when you have someone visit you from out of the area, and they’ve never visited here before, what are your top three places that you take them?

John: Cherohala Skyway, Market Square, and… top three places. I try to get them here to the headquarters to see what we do.

Julia: Where’s the headquarters?

John: Our headquarters is in Rockford, Tennessee, which is about [crosstalk 00:20:59]—

Julia: Really? Outside of Maryville?

John: —[airport 00:20:59]. Yeah.

Julia: Yeah. I didn’t know that. You’re right down the road.

John: Well, you’re welcome to come in anytime, and I’ll show you around.

Julia: Well, I’m going to take you up on that. That’s for sure. John, is there any last parting words you’d like to leave our audience today?

John: Get involved. We always need the help, and we—if you can’t help, donate financially. We’d really appreciate it. Even the ten—10 donation is what keeps us going.

Julia: It’s ramusa.org?

John: Correct.

Julia: Got it. We’re going to [add this to the podcast 00:21:31]. Thank you so much for your time today.

John: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Julia: Audience, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Thanks for visiting. Have a good one.

Julia: Thank you for tuning into the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.