Natchez’s recent Tricentennial Wellness clinic clearly served a huge, unmet need in the community.

More than 3,000 people came to the free clinic and received nearly 11,000 medical, dental and optical procedures.

That is a staggering figure.

The U.S. Department of Defense, which uses such events to help train military troops, and the Delta Regional Authority estimate the value of the services provided to be more than $1.3 million over the two-week event.

That’s impressive and appreciated for those who needed the services.

But it also underscores continuing problems in our country.

Despite the efforts to broaden health care coverage and a myriad of complications the Affordable Care Act brought forth, we’re far from solving the nation’s health care woes.

The Affordable Care Act has certainly complicated matters for hospitals, physicians and other health care providers. Clearly unmet needs continue to exist, seemingly due to the poor, rural nature of our corner of the world.

Health care is not a constitutionally protected right, nor should it be. But one has to think our system may still have room to improve in order to prevent so many unmet needs — particularly in dental and optical care — from continuing.

The current system — while great for citizens with insurance and other economic means — continues to cause lapses for those less fortunate.

As evident by the overwhelming response to the free services offered in Natchez recently, we must all continue to work on a smart, efficient way to improve heather care nationwide.