By Howard Berkes
It was a Third World scene with an American setting. Hundreds of tired and desperate people crowded around an aid worker with a bullhorn, straining to hear the instructions and worried they might be left out.
Some had arrived at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Wise, Virginia, two days before. They slept in cars, tents and the beds of pickup trucks, hoping to be among the first in line when the gate opened Friday before dawn. They drove in from 16 states, anxious to relieve pain, diagnose aches and see and hear better.
“I came here because of health care – being able to get things that we can’t afford to have ordinarily,” explained 52-year-old Otis Reece of Gate City, Va., as he waited in a wheelchair beside his red F-150 pickup. “Being on a fixed income, this is a fantastic situation to have things done we ordinarily would put off.”
Continue Reading Rural Medical Camp Tackles Health Care Gaps
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(Photo: Becky Lettenberger/NPR)
