"Free" Jump From a DC3 - For a Good Cause Too

[frequentflyer 0]

Yes, there’s a catch, but a good one! Read on:


Remote Area Medical, www.ramusa.org, is working on testing out a concept to provide medical support in remote areas; ones that can’t be easily reached, except by plane, in this case - a DC3. Volunteers are needed and they will need to cover all of their own expenses for travel to and from the RAM headquarters in Knoxville, TN, plus lodging for one or two nights in a local hotel – in other words, this is a true *volunteer” effort. Travel to and from the site for the medical mission will be covered by RAM. If you’re still interested, here are some additional details. . . and more is sure to follow, as questions are received:



Who is needed?

A total of 10 skydivers, with the following skills:

2 Dentists (US Licensed)
2 Optometrists or Ophthalmologists (US Licensed)
1 Medical Doctor for general practice (US Licensed)
1 Registered Nurse (already assigned) (US Licensed)

Plus

4 Additional volunteers who will assist the dentists and eye doctors, to handle the medical instruments and process the patients - no medical training required, but preferred (two volunteers are already assigned)

In all, there are 7 openings, 5 of which requiring medical training (US Licensed) as described above – camera flying skills are also preferred if more than one candidate is vying for the same slot.




What will we be doing?

The plan is to hold a small RAM clinic for one weekend, providing dental and vision care, at a remote location in Tennessee with the team members parachuting in to the site, from the RAM DC3, with the equipment airlifted in as well. The team will cam there for two nights and will be removed by ground transportation Sunday evening, after the clinic is finished.




What will you need to bring?

Your skydiving gear
A backpack
Camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, etc) and personal supplies for a weekend in the mountains of Tennessee
Food, if you choose to not eat what is provided
Keep in mind, anything that is not attached to you when you exit the plane, will be dropped in under a cargo chute – “breakables” will likely be broken, even with the softest of landings



When?

Team members need to arrive in Knoxville, at the Knoxville Airport (airport code TYS), on Thursday June 9th to be ready for a Friday morning departure as a group.
Everyone should be back in Knoxville on Sunday night, June 12, available for various airline departures on Monday morning June 13.
Volunteers are welcome to come to Knoxville a day earlier, to prepare the dental equipment, eye glasses, food, etc. for the cargo drop so as to avoid a departure delay on Friday morning.




Where?

The actual site for the mission is currently being assessed. RAM volunteers in the area are investigating suitable landing areas, in remote parts of eastern Tennessee; Lamb’s Mountain near Jellico, TN on the Kentucky border is one area under consideration. Previous RAM missions have been held in areas throughout Tennessee; holding these clinics is not new for RAM, but the airlift operation is a new twist to the plan.




How?

After a landing area has been determined, and FAA approval confirmed, then residents living in the area will be advised to come to the dropzone-clinic on Saturday morning and Sunday morning - to have bad teeth pulled or filled and eye glasses prescribed. In past RAM missions, no matter how remote the location, people always show up in large numbers.

Team members would need to spend Thursday night at one of several motels within walking distance of
the Knoxville Airport, at the volunteer's expense (remember, this is a volunteer mission).

On Friday morning, June 10, the RAM DC3 will depart from Knoxville Airport, with the volunteers and gear on board, then fly approximately 60 miles to the Scott County Airport staging area. From there, the team and equipment will be flown to the remote location.

In parallel, at the Scott County Airport, RAM will be holding a large medical clinic on the same weekend in a large hangar belonging to a fellow RAM volunteer. This will be a large event involving a few hundred volunteers so Scott County Airport will be very busy.

Included in the airlifted gear/equipment, there will be:

The volunteers' personal gear (roughly one backpack per person)
Two portable dental chairs, each weighing 60 lbs
Two lightweight “rota-dent” units for filling teeth
Several hundred pairs of prescription eye glasses, approximately the contents of two large suitcases
A small generator probably weighing about 60 lbs
Food and water

RAM does not intend to supply the team from the ground, since this exercise is to demonstrate RAM’s capability to supply everything needed from the air. RAM will, however, extricate the team by road vehicles on Sunday afternoon and take everyone back to Knoxville Airport, or to the Scott County Airport, if the actual clinic/dropzone is relatively close.

If we add in all the gear and food etc, everything should fit in the DC3 in one load, with sufficient take off length at Knoxville as well as at the interim stop at Scott County. If it’s necessary, the volunteers could be dropped out, without first landing at Scott County; either way, the DC3 would spend the weekend on the ramp at Scott County helping to treat patients in the RAM hangar.

Video coverage is planned for the drop, so helmet cameras would be splendid, plus there will be an additional cameraman (already assigned) in the aircraft. Another camera may be arranged on the ground, at the clinic’s site/dropzone, before the volunteers and equipment are dropped.

The weather has been rather uncooperative lately and this has interfered somewhat in the aerial search for a suitable DZ. RAM plans to resume the search at the earliest opportunity.

It is much too early for team members to purchase airline tickets to Knoxville but RAM is making a serious effort to make this long-delayed operation a reality. Please stay tuned!



Are you interested?

If so, please contact me at your earliest convenience and I will enroll you in the RamAirborne Yahoo Group for further information (please note, you need to be able to get on this group, for participation):

[email protected]

Please forward this to anyone you know who may want to join in this mission!


Karen :)

See you later. . . sometime, somewhere.

[pkasdorf 0]

Unfortunately, being a Medical Doctor but living in Uruguay and not being US licensed I am not allowed to participate. I would if I could. Resourceful way of helping those in need and hard to reach. Congratulations to those involved!

HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

[alex_778 0]

Marvellous thing to do.

I just saw the Home Page article on the training camp in Eloy, it looks interesting.

One point to note though, I am ex-military and have had the opportunity to knock around the world a little bit and visit a few countries. I note that some of the course participants are using ex-military olive green and camouflage bits and pieces. There are certain countries where you may be arrested and charged with being a mercenary for wearing or carrying such items, mainly African countries.

If I were to advise you on dress and equipment I would say that no participants should under any circumstances wear or carry anything vaguely military. Regardless of the good intentions that people have there is always a risk especially in a country or area in turmoil wether through natural disaster or war.