Mobile Health Unit Rolls Up to the Underserved

Food trucks may be all the rage right now, but mobile systems of commerce exist outside of the food industry. Constructed with the same aesthetic, many businesses on wheels provide commodities, services, and resources for people in remote and underserved areas. Vehicular enterprises are also used as mobile outposts for the disbursement of resources typically only available through brick and mortar platforms. These portable business extensions are a boon to customers who are physically unable to reach stationary destinations due to health problems or a lack of reliable transportation.

While food trucks are largely popular in the U.S. for their novelty, mobile businesses are rising in popularity on an international level due to the necessity of service delivery to rural areas. In India and Myanmar, respectively, the Door Step School and the myME: Myanmar Mobile Education Project provide education services for disadvantaged youth. Mobile pet care outposts that spay and neuter onsite exist in major U.S. cities such as New York.

Orlando recently rolled out a mobile health unit, brought to you by the Seminole County health department. The mission of the unit, equipped to the standards of a small doctor’s office, is to help those without mobility — the homeless, families in transition, and others who lack the resources to get around — get heath care delivered to their temporary door steps.

Mobile health units are increasing in volume due to a demonstrated need across the country. Units such as Boston’s The Family Van are dedicated to supplying health screenings to residents of economically deprived communities. The Mobile Health Map, a project of researchers at Harvard University, lists dozens of mobile clinics that focus on the needs of disaster relief, dental screenings, maternal/infant health, and mammography.

Not all mobile healthcare examinations take place in the vehicles themselves. “Mobile” in several instances of health transport, also refers to health care professionals bringing services to existing locations, operating onsite as a temporary entity. Once such example is Teen Xpress, a project of Orlando’s Arnold Palmer Hospital. Teen Xpress provides services to schools for the physical examination, immunization, vision screening, and other testing of student teens and adolescents. Many of the youth who take part in these checkups have never had the luxury of receiving access to formal healthcare.

The Seminole County mobile health unit, with a budget narrowly exceeding $300,000, is funded in part by Orlando Health, county commissioners, WIC, Healthy Start Coalition of Seminole County, and True Health Family Health Centers.

The right to universal and easily accessible healthcare remains a sensitive topic in the U.S., even after the passage of Obamacare. Many people are still not receiving consistent and reliable services. Many more received poor services in the past that exasperated existing health issues. If you believe that you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, contact our attorneys at Morgan & Morgan for a free case evaluation. Our attorneys are here to help everyone, regardless of income, seek their deserved restitution.