Queuing up early Sunday, hundreds of New Orleans-area residents waited hungrily to take advantage of a week long event offering them free care. The free care is available to anyone from the area, though it's aimed at those who are unemployed, without insurance or can't pay for care. The fair, which expects to see 10,000 patients over the week, is a collaboration between volunteer medical group Remote Area Medical and a charity operated by televangelist Pat Robertson. More than 400 healthcare workers are participating, including doctors, dentists and varied specialists. Services range from routine--such as free prescriptions, dental fillings and teeth cleaning, eye exams and glasses--to pediatric, obstetrics and gynecology, diabetic care and cardiology services. So intense is the need, in the past people arriving at 4 a.m. for service sometimes haven't been seen.
For more background on the healthcare service crisis in New Orleans:
- read this article from the Associated Press