Setting the Wheels in Motion
Friedman and DeGroot say working onboard a mobile health clinic is one of the most satisfying types of medicine to practice. For those who want to consider a career in this area, or who might want to start up a new mobile clinic, they offer a few words of wisdom.
An important first step is to take the temperature of the community by creating a needs assessment. If another group is already meeting certain needs, then you will know to move in a different direction with your program, they say.
Also, it’s important to identify agencies that might be willing to collaborate. Friedman and DeGroot say their success is largely due to their wonderful community partners. The most successful mobile clinics operate in an environment where everyone knows his or her role and nobody steps on anyone else’s toes.
DeGroot advises new clinics to hire a dedicated program manager who oversees the clinic but does not work on the van. And Friedman says it’s also important to carefully identify your patient population (whom you will treat and whom you will not), so that you can really zero in on helping the people with the greatest needs in the community.
“These kinds of populations require somebody with a great deal of compassion,” DeLorenzo says. “It might be old people, poor people, and a lot of disenfranchised people.”
For health care providers who are looking to get rich quick, mobile clinics are probably not the way to go, she adds. Most mobile clinics get funding from nonprofit organizations and community groups that have a stake in keeping costs down. But if you are the kind of person who is concerned about social justice, fixing our country’s health care crisis, and helping the poor, DeLorenzo says, mobile health care could be a good fit.