Mobile Wellness Clinic

By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Mobile Wellness Clinic

The Casey Foundation, an organization that works to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families in the United States, conducted an analysis of the Opelika community in 2017 that revealed areas with a lack of access to care. The foundation engaged the City of Opelika and East Alabama Health to begin a mobile medicine program to increase access to primary care within the community. First Transit donated the mobile bus in 2017, and the program officially launched in December 2022.

The mobile wellness clinic visits communities in the greater Opelika area once a week. Staff provide disease prevention resources and screen patients for chronic conditions at the designated site each week. mobile unit social worker connects patients to resources within the community through screening for social determinants of health. The clinic is funded through multiple sources, including the Casey Foundation and the local housing authority, which allows the clinic to prioritize communities with the most need.

Beyond the City of Opelika and the Casey Foundation, mobile wellness clinic partners include charitable clinics that allow referrals for patients to be seen more quickly, local schools and universities from which students work and learn in the bus , and other local community-based organizations that help the program build trust with community members.

The mobile clinic has served community members with all-encompassing care since beginning operations in December  2022. Many personal stories illustrate the clinic’s importance to the community; for example, a care-reluctant patient sought care at the mobile wellness clinic and discovered dangerously high blood sugar levels. Fortunately, the clinic staff were able to quickly intervene and saved the patient’s life.