Every morning, Loyola's Pediatric Mobile Health Unit lumbers out of the Maywood parking lot, most often with patient care coordinator Linda Rush behind the wheel. Every afternoon, the trailer truck is parked quietly back in its spot to be powered up for the next day. The clinic on wheels goes on its daily runs - known as missions - with little fanfare or attention, but its crew is heroic in their own way. The program reached a major milestone in May. The 50,000th patient, Benita Correa, age 10, of Cicero, was treated on the mobile health unit.
Free health care is provided by medical staff on board the unit to children throughout the Chicago area who have no health insurance, inadequate insurance coverage or no way to get to a doctor's office for routine care. It travels to some of the most depressed and deprived areas of Chicago, such as West Side neighborhoods where burned down lots still sit unrestored after the 1960s riots.
"We travel to the Third World every day, but we never leave the Chicago area," said Susan Finn, M.S.N., A.P.N., nurse practitioner for the program.
About 80 percent of children seen are African American; about 15 percent are Hispanic. Many of the families have parents working one or two jobs each, without health benefits. Some children arrive for appointments in the same clothing every time. Some never get a meal outside of school. About half of the children are found to have undetected and untreated health problems such as diabetes or asthma that require follow-up care.
The mobile health unit offers all the services a child could get at an outpatient clinic - and more.
Services include routine check-ups; immunizations; hearing, vision and lung screenings; lab tests and health education. Regular asthma and prenatal clinics also are held through the program.
Loyola's Pediatric Mobile Health Unit was the first unit of its kind in the Midwest when it was created in 1998. The trailer truck was custom designed and compactly outfitted to include everything a modern clinic needs: a waiting area, nurse's station, laboratory, exam room and space for screening tests. In six years, the program has become known as a national model for its success and efficiency. Based on benchmarking data, it is the busiest and most cost efficient mobile health unit in the nation.
Its success and efficiency are due in large part to the leadership of its director, John Zinkel, R.R.T., E.M.T. "We run the clinic like a small business: lean and mean. Nothing is outsourced. We keep our cost low and our efficiency high," he said.
The three full-time staff members, Rush, Finn and Zinkel, are cross trained to perform multiple tasks, such as lab work, screening tests, and even driving and servicing the truck. Their goal is to keep the vehicle in operation as much as possible and maximize the number of children utilizing the service. "Our average cost per child is less than $25," Zinkel said.
Fourteen mobile clinics in the Chicago area alone have been modeled directly after Loyola's. Visitors come at least twice a month from all over the country to learn first hand what the team does. The Ronald McDonald(r) Home Charities has duplicated the program and is disseminating similar vehicles worldwide.
In addition to the small staff, Zinkel works closely with 350 community partners who are the liaisons between Loyola and the neighborhoods. The community partners are school nurses, principals, church leaders and others who have close ties to children and families in their neighborhoods and can identify children in need and coordinate their appointments. Loyola's mobile health unit travels to 195 community sites. Stops are scheduled two years in advance, and more than 50 sites are currently on a waiting list.
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