By Tom Donahue
Dumb luck brought Paula Snyder and Jim Mahar together. Their shared commitment to building community and serving those in need has resulted in St. Bonaventure University’s involvement in a Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic for the second time in five years.
Mahar, associate professor of finance at SBU and founder of the volunteer relief agency BonaResponds, was among a throng of community members who turned out for a playground construction project in Olean’s King Street Park in September of 2019.
He found himself working alongside Snyder, executive director of the Cattaraugus County Campus of Jamestown Community College. Next to her was Daniel DeMarte, JCC president.
“I knew of Jim Mahar from newspaper articles, what a great guy he was and the things he did, but I had never met him,” said Snyder. “The three of us got to talking about this RAM project. Jim was very disappointed that Bona’s couldn’t do it because of campus renovations that were going to be occurring, and he asked if JCC would be willing to have it.”
It wasn’t the “yes” that surprised Mahar, but how fast DeMarte delivered it.
“He said yes immediately,” said Mahar. “It was like, sure, let’s get this done.”
Remote Area Medical is a nonprofit provider of pop-up clinics that deliver free dental, vision and medical services to uninsured and underserved populations, primarily in the U.S. Established in 1985, its corps of volunteer licensed professionals have provided free quality healthcare to some 864,000 people in need.
Plans to hold the JCC clinic in 2020 were scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic, so the event was rescheduled for this year. It will be held on JCC’s downtown Olean campus the weekend of Sept. 11-12, operating from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Mahar was the driving force behind a RAM clinic at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center in 2017. Held in partnership with local and regional healthcare partners, it provided no-cost medical, dental and vision care to 400 people. The JCC clinic expects to serve between 500 and 600 people.
Like all RAM clinics, the JCC event is open to anyone, no questions asked, and “everything is free,” said Snyder.
New York state licensed primary care doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists and optometrists will assess patients and provide on-the-spot treatment including dental work and even the grinding of lenses for new eyeglasses.
A task force of volunteers from groups and organizations across the region is responsible for planning and executing the JCC clinic.
BonaResponds is not the only group from St. Bonaventure assisting in the effort.
Students and staff from The Warming House, the student-run soup kitchen located just a block from the JCC campus, will help provide box lunches for the hundreds of clients and volunteer workers.
“One of the biggest challenges our Warming House guests face is access to medical and dental care,” said Alice Miller Nation, director of the SBU’s Franciscan Center for Social Concern. “This is a great opportunity for us to help those on the margins of society.”
Students and faculty from St. Bona-venture’s School of Health Professions will assist in the clinic’s triage station, getting patients’ basic histories and vitals.
“Many people in our region lack access to proper medical and dental care,” said Dr. Scott Medler, associate professor in the physician assistant studies program at SBU. “Our students welcome such opportunities to help those in need. It’s one of the things that attracts students to St. Bonaventure over other schools: the spirit of service and Franciscan values.”
Anyone interested in helping at the RAM clinic should email Mahar at jmahar@sbu.edu or jim.mahar@gmail.com.
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