A day at the fair

November 9, 2008 9:30 AM

You may remember Stan Brock from as the British anaconda wrangler from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (top right video). These days he runs Remote Area Medical, a volunteer airborne relief corps that brings medical, dental, and educational assistance to remote areas of the world. Every year, they go to remote Appalachian Virginia, a one day drive from Washington DC, for a 3 day event at the fairgrounds.
posted by oneirodynia (10 comments total)

News report on Remote Area Medical and Stan Brock - Part 1, 2 , 3, 4 [video].
posted by ericb at 9:41 AM on November 9, 2008

60 Minutes segment: U.S. Health Care Gets Boost From Charity -- video [13:34].
posted by ericb at 9:44 AM on November 9, 2008

Side comment: I totally heart Marlin Perkins, he was the most kickass anaconda-wrassling, lispy-voiced senior citizen EVER. (Although admittedly, this is creepy.)

Seriously, throughout their 70s my parents mostly just sat around watching cable all day, bitching about being old... ahh, but then there was ol' Marlin, lassooing grizzly bears like a rodeo star even when his arthritis was acting up. Gotta love that.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:00 AM on November 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

miss lynnster, that is the creepiest thing I've EVER seen, The animatronic Marlon plus the animatronic chimp. That clip is from the Baltimore Artscape Festival,2007, as far as I can tell - but I can't find any info about it being currently "displayed". So somewhere animatronic Marlon waits patiently to be re-animated.

I picture him in a closet.
posted by readery at 10:35 AM on November 9, 2008

The wrangling is fine, but don't let it distract you from the article. Read all the way through to the end to hear the stories of the clinic's patients. People slowly rotting from diabetes, untreated infections. A woman who has to have all 22 of her remaining teeth pulled out, who will spend at least a year on a wait-list for dentures. The mobile clinic and the people in line are a scene that is supposed to only happen a third-world country.

We've got a lot of work to do.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 11:31 AM on November 9, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Oops: make that "in a third world country."
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 11:31 AM on November 9, 2008

They have anacondas in Britain?
posted by Rangeboy at 11:33 AM on November 9, 2008

Sorry, wasn't trying to derail or downplay the importance of teeth, etc., in Appalachia... just inspired to give a kickass senior citizen shout out.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:42 AM on November 9, 2008

Thanks for the 60 Minutes link; I remember seeing it, and being amazed at how Brock had changed since his chasing cheetahs while barefoot phase on Wild Kingdom.
He lives such a spartan lifestyle to ensure that all monies received go to where they belong: to help the people.
A powerful piece, a great humanitarian.
posted by willmize at 1:40 PM on November 9, 2008

We've got a lot of work to do.

We've had a lot of work to for, ya know, ever.
posted by Roman Graves at 4:25 PM on November 9, 2008