KINGSPORT, Tenn. – A new $250,000 mobile clinic will deliver free health care services to rural patients across Ballad Health System’s Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia coverage area.
Ballad officials unveiled the new clinic on wheels Wednesday during a media event, but said the unit will begin serving the area next month.
“The pathway to good health starts with the connection to health care. We’re going to take that connection to people where they live and work. That is the way of the future,” Dr. Shari Rajoo, vice president and chief medical officer for population health service and medical director of the mobile unit, said. “Health care is going to have to move to people and fit into their lifestyle versus people having to fit their lifestyle into a health care system and schedules.”
Paula Masters, Ballad’s vice president for health programs, said this is part of the system’s original commitment to expand health care in rural and remote areas.
“This will bring high quality, much needed services for many people in this region,” Master said. “This clinic will increase access to the same high quality health care that we provide in our bricks and mortar sites, regardless of where you live and where you work in this region.”
Masters said the mobile clinic’s primary mission is to deliver general medical care and women’s health services.
“Vital services such as cancer and health screenings, strep and flu tests, referrals to dentists and Ob-Gyn services and so much more will be more accessible than ever for the people who need them,” Master said. “If a service isn’t available on the mobile clinic, patients will be directed to where they can go to receive it… We want everyone, regardless of insurance status, to seek care at our new mobile clinic.”
The project is being funded by grants from PYA, a national health care management and consulting firm, the Tennessee Department of Health, James Madison University, and the East Tennessee Foundation.
“We believe this will be a remarkably successful outreach to the community,” David McMillan, PYA’s CFO and managing principal of consulting services, said. “We are happy and proud to be part of this. We look forward to hearing the stories of lives changed as a result of this very important investment.”
Masters said the mobile unit is nearly complete and will go into service in September.
“We’re having the unit outfitted for our IT needs and getting our schedule set up with our partners to start getting the unit out on the road. We intend to start to provide services next month,” Masters said. “It will serve as a complement to community providers, be it Ballad Health or other friends who are community providers.”
Masters said the new unit expands on services presently offered by Ballad’s mobile mammography unit.
“This is a pivotal moment for us and a real milestone,” Rajoo said. “Access to health care is a big barrier not only for us throughout the Appalachian Highlands region, but across the nation. It is one of the main reasons that our population in this country still suffers with chronic disease… This really is a milestone, transforming us from a health care system to a community health improvement organization.
“In health care today we talk a lot about being patient-centered,” Rajoo said. “A service like this, bringing the care to the patients, I am a firm believe that this is the way of the future. Patients aren’t going to look to just come to our bricks and mortar alone.”
