FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hollie Malamud, Director of Development
Phone: (530) 285-3203
Email: holliem@communicarehc.org
One Year After Launch, CommuniCare Health Center’s Mobile Medicine Team Continues to Change Lives
A year after launch, here’s how the Mobile Medicine Team is helping improve the lives of Yolo County’s most vulnerable residents.
Yolo County, Calif. (October 13, 2022) – One year after launching CommuniCare Health’s Mobile Medicine program in Yolo County, the team continues to improve health outcomes for Yolo County’s most vulnerable.
Since the county-wide initiative began in August 2021, the cross-disciplinary team has provided medical, behavioral, and dental care for more than 800 county residents with unstable housing including people experiencing homelessness and migrant agricultural workers, decreasing the severity and chronicity of otherwise manageable health care conditions for these typically unserved or underserved individuals.
Yolo County resident and Mobile Medicine patient, Frances, says that before she met CommuniCare Health’s Mobile Medicine team, she didn’t value herself.
“They prioritized me as important,” says Frances. “I didn’t feel like I was a priority in my own life at that time.”
In addition to providing services to all corners of Yolo County from the Mobile Medicine van, the team has expanded its care to host regular screening clinics at multiple sites, including migrant centers in Davis, Madison, and Dixon. During these visits, community members have access to:
- Insurance counseling
- Connection to primary care
- COVID-19 testing and treatment
- STI testing and treatment
- Diabetes diagnosis, education, and management
- Perinatal care and counseling
- Preventative and harm reduction services
- Medication Management
- Behavioral health counseling and case management
- Substance use treatment
- Vaccines and tb screenings
- Food, clothing, and hygiene kits
Frances says the program allowed her to begin healing both physically and mentally. The relief of improved daily health freed her to begin making other positive changes in her life. “I can work on myself again instead of having daily issues to work on top of that,” said Frances. “All you have to do is have the willingness to help yourself and [the Mobile Medicine Team] will take your hand and lead you through it. They made me a priority even when I didn’t feel like I was a priority in my own life at that time.”
Throughout the past year, and especially during recent COVID-19 surges, Mobile Medicine provided preventative COVID-19 care and treatment to patients. They hosted vaccination clinics, offered COVID-19 testing and guidance on strategies to reduce transmission, and provided Paxlovid. In addition, they provided nicotine replacement therapy to many patients in isolation.
“CommuniCare prides itself on providing high-quality, comprehensive health care not only within the walls of its health centers but in the community as well,” says CommuniCare’s Chief Executive Officer Dr. Melissa Marshall. “By meeting individuals where they are, the Mobile Medicine team realizes our mission.”
Dr. Suzanne Eidson-Ton CommuniCare’s Chief Medical Officer further stated: “The patients the Mobile Medicine Team serves most likely would not have accessed any health care or done so through the emergency room. CommuniCare is extremely proud of our Mobile Medicine Team and the critical services they provide for Yolo County’s most vulnerable populations.”
Mobile Medicine is made possible through investments from Sutter Health, Dignity Health, and Woodland Clinic Medical Group. Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency provided the systems and equipment, and the new, outfitted van was provided by Yolo County. Staffing and operational support is being provided by CommuniCare Health Centers.
Patients needing services can leave a voicemail at: 530-758-1510 x 1234.
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CommuniCare Health Centers (CCHC) is a private, nonprofit corporation licensed as a community clinic and has been a Federally Qualified Health Center since 2007, and is funded as both a Community Health Center and Migrant Health Center. CCHC provides medical, dental, mental health and substance use treatment services at our clinic sites geographically distributed throughout Yolo County and one site in neighboring Solano County. Health education and outreach services are offered in the community and in locations such as the county jail, schools, migrant camps, and other non-profits. Since 1972, CCHC has continuously provided high quality health care for the culturally diverse, low income, uninsured, and underinsured residents and is the main provider of primary health care services for residents at or below 200% of the poverty level. CCHC provides health care services to about one in every nine residents of Yolo County.
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