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Framingham plans August free weekend clinic; organizers seek licensed medical volunteers and lodging
Summary
City staff and volunteers are organizing a free medical weekend on Aug. 2–3 with dental, vision and primary care services; volunteers must register with RAM and nurses must hold Massachusetts licenses. Roberta Ho is expected to be appointed to manage the Medical Reserve Corps.
Framingham staff and volunteer coordinators told the Board of Health on May 13 that the city is on course to run a free weekend medical event on Aug. 2–3 and that organizers need licensed medical volunteers, liability registration and funding support.
Bill Lehi, the city’s health director, said the event will run from Friday night registration through services beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, offering dental, vision, general medical and women’s health services. Lodging for out‑of‑town volunteers will be provided at Framingham State, and the clinic venue is being prepared at Keefe Technical School.
Lehi said volunteers must register through RAM to be covered for liability and that nurses must hold Massachusetts state licenses; physicians from out of state can participate with RAM validation. “They’re asking volunteers if you’re gonna volunteer the whole weekend because there’s some methodology to what they do,” Lehi said, urging full‑weekend commitments.
Roberta Ho, who has coordinated Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) deployments locally and regionally, said the RAM database contains returning volunteers from last year and that the planning team is refining volunteer roles. Lehi said he will ask the board at the next meeting to appoint Roberta as an agent of the Board of Health to manage the MRC and to give her more operational latitude.
Organizers said funding and donations remain a challenge because the municipality has limited ability to solicit donations; they are continuing outreach and expect to firm up volunteer numbers by the end of May.
