Taking health care on the road

Georgann Barnes (from left), Laurie Wilkinson and Paulette Bird discuss future plans in the Bureau County Health and Wellness clinic's new mobile unit. The unit, a used motorhome, was purchased with money received from a federal grant and should be operational after the first of the year. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

PRINCETON — Sick people who are low-income or uninsured will soon have an easier way to have their healthcare needs addressed.

The Bureau County Health and Wellness Clinic has received a $142,000 federal grant to purchase and operate a mobile unit to deliver care to those in need.

Paulette Bird, acting executive director of the BCHW, said the grant will enable the agency to take healthcare into the far corners of the county.

“We’ll be seeing patients and doing screenings for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension,” she said. “And we will be determining which areas have the most need.”

Bird said the unit will probably rotate among four different locations, visiting each one twice a month.

“We will go to a location, probably a church, and plug in there, and then the patients will be seen at that location,” she said.

BCHW’s new full-time nurse, Laurie Wilkinson, will accompany the unit, and Bird hopes a doctor will occasionally make the trip as well.

The BCHW bought a used motorhome last week, and renovations have already begun. The bedroom has been removed, and new vinyl flooring, courtesy of Wyanet Carpet, will soon be added, as will graphics by Princeton Graphics.

The remainder of the grant will be spent to equip and staff the unit, including educational materials and training. Bird said BCHW has a wish list from the 15 doctors who volunteer their time, and she is working with Perry Memorial Hospital and St. Margaret’s Health, which will help through their purchasing agents.

More volunteers will be needed when the unit hits the streets after the first of the year. Bird said they’re looking for volunteer drivers, and more volunteers in the communities to help with checking patients in.

Bird said the mobile unit will fill a real need in the areas that are quite a distance from the main office in Princeton.

“We get a lot of patients who have to come over here from Spring Valley,” Bird said. “And we are getting more calls from patients who are having a hard time getting here.”

There are also more patients in general, and Bird said they are expecting the mobile unit to increase BCHW’s numbers by 20 to 25 percent.

“And that does not factor in these economic times,” she said. “We expect quite a big influx of patients because of that.”

Bird is eager to get the mobile unit out on the road, but she’s also looking to the future.

“This grant is for one year,” she said. “Obviously the clinic is going to have to pick up the sustainability after the year.”

To afford that, Bird is considering offering an “Adopt the Mobile Unit” program, which would give special recognition to organizations who would pick up the costs for a month at a time.

Bird is also looking for continued support from the community, both financial and otherwise.

“Support is about more than the dollars,” she said. “It’s about people who want to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.