OLEAN, N.Y. — Jim Mahar has lofty goals for the Remote Area Medical clinic coming to Olean later this summer.

“I would love to have over $200,000 of free medical treatment for people,” said Mahar, a finance professor at St. Bonaventure University and leader of the BonaResponds volunteer organization. “I think we can. I would love, love, love to hit a quarter of a million dollars of free services provided. I think that’s very reachable.”

Organized and co-hosted by SUNY Jamestown Community College and BonaResponds, RAM returns to the region on Sept. 13 and 14 at the Olean YMCA. The Tennessee non-profit provides medical, dental and vision care at no cost to anyone and does not require insurance.

Mahar helped manage and organize the first clinic in New York state at St. Bonaventure in 2017. He worked with JCC Cattaraugus County campus executive director Paula Snyder to lead RAM clinics in 2021 and 2023 in Olean and last September at JCC’s Jamestown Campus.

Those three most recent clinics served nearly 900 uninsured and underserved individuals in the Southern Tier and beyond. To ensure Mahar’s objectives are met for this clinic, he and Snyder acknowledged more volunteers, more donations … and most important, more word of mouth, are needed.

“We need volunteers, but the main thing we need is patients,” Snyder said. “If you have a resource group that offers services to people in our community who are challenged economically, emotionally, medically, please let us know so we can get you flyers.”

Volunteers at past clinics in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have come from far and wide, including professionals from as distant as New York City, dental students from the University at Buffalo, and dozens more students studying healthcare at Canisius University, SUNY Delhi, Penn State University, St. Bonaventure and JCC.

Snyder said additional doctors, physician assistants, ophthalmologists and opticians are needed, as are general volunteers who assist with registration, directing patients and setting up and taking down clinic tents and equipment.

Holger Ekanger, JCC’s vice president of Workforce Development, helped with registration last year at the Jamestown Campus.

“It is an incredible, humbling experience to see the challenges of so many people who are using RAM,” he said. “It’s an incredible benefit that they receive attending the RAM clinic. If you haven’t volunteered in the past, I encourage you to do so.”

Regional non-profits, churches and organizations also contribute to RAM clinics, including providing discounted hotel stays for out-of-town volunteers, food for volunteers, additional support and community resources for patients, and transportation to and from the clinic.

“We want people to come to this clinic and get the care they need,” Snyder said. “And then we want follow-up resources for them to be able to get further care going forward.”

For information about volunteering, donating or reserving a clinic resource table, contact Snyder at (716) 376-7580 or PaulaSnyder@mail.sunyjcc.edu.

Visit RAMUSA.org to learn more about Remote Area Medical.