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Mobile Health Services

Building on the success of the HOPE Team, the Health Care Center for the Homeless (HCCH) launched its first mobile medical unit in 2008. Known as the HOPE Mobile Medical Unit, this 37 foot “clinic on wheels” is staffed by an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner and two Medical Assistants. This unit provides primary medical care services for homeless individuals throughout the tri-county area by visiting over a dozen of our community partners each month who also serve homeless individuals. As many of our patients are more transient or lack regular transportation, this unit enables us to take our services to them. In 2009, HCCH received a second mobile unit through a generous in- kind gift from the Senior Resource Alliance and Florida Hospital. Initially this unit had only been used on a part-time basis, but HCCH acquired funding to completely staff it on a regular basis and it is out in the community helping to expand the activities of our original mobile unit. Both units feature two exam rooms and a waiting area. Through funding from the American Re-Investment and Recovery Act (ARRA), HCCH acquired a mobile dental unit in late 2010. Equipped with three dental chairs, this unit is able to take oral health services to those in need. One of the main focuses for this unit is a partnership with local schools to help provide oral health care to underserved children in the community by actually taking services to school campuses. In the Spring of 2011, the unit began its “sealant” program at schools in Osceola County with 50% or greater enrollment in the free or reduced lunch program. The sealant program protects the first four permanent molars against early decay and is directed at second graders. In the Spring of 2012, our mobile dental unit started providing this service at schools in Seminole County with a special focus on homeless children. This service is provided free of charge to students with prior parental permission.

Photos courtesy of Health Care Center for the Homeless © Copyright 2011