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By LESLIE WOLCOTT

RCCHC Public Relations

AHOSKIE – Threats of 100 degree temperatures didn’t even phase the clinical staff at Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center as they prepared recently to officially launch their mobile health clinic.

Triple digits in the summertime are temps regularly experienced by folks that work outdoors in North Carolina—some of the people unable to get to regular brick and mortar doctors’ offices that the mobile health clinic is targeting. Lucky for all attending, an afternoon rain cooled the air and scattered clouds made for a pleasant afternoon outside as the mobile clinic was officially introduced to the community.

Ahoskie Mayor Weyling White joined RCCHC CEO Kim Schwartz, Board Chair Deborah Morrison, Director of Infectious Disease & Mobile Health Services Jared Carter-Davis, and board and staff of RCCHC in officially launching the organization’s mobile health clinic.

“I want Ahoskie to be the first city to formally partner with the RCCHC Mobile Unit,” said White.

“You can’t wait for people to come to you,” Schwartz noted. “I believe in health care evangelism. We have to show up regularly and make it easy for folks to find us.”

In fact, she pleaded with the crowd: “If you know an organization—a church, a community group, anyone who might benefit from this mobile clinic—please let us know! We want to come to where the need is.”

Carter-Davis was recruited to RCCHC from out of state specifically to head up the mobile unit team.

“The RCCHC mobile unit gives us the ability to reach those who truly have almost no access to health care,” he shared. “That is the mission that brought each of us on the mobile team to this work, and it is that dedication to serving the underserved that is how the members of this team were selected. So we are so grateful for this opportunity to do the work we love and are driven to do.”

RCCHC’s Mobile Health Clinic will pull double duty, residing at community hubs like churches and stores during the day, and accompanying the organization’s agricultural worker outreach team in the evening.

“The mobile unit will bring the same high quality primary care to farmworkers that our area’s residents receive in the brick and mortar locations during regular operating hours,” said Caroline Doherty, Chief Development and Programs Officer.

The unit also has technology on board to allow for behavioral health telemedicine visits, bringing a crucial component of whole-person care to the field.

“Ordering the mobile unit pre-pandemic and hearing the delivery date change several times, we wondered if the mobile unit would ever arrive, said RCCHC Board Chair Deborah Morrison. “It is here and we are so excited about this wonderful opportunity to expand the quality of health care that we currently provide to communities, that otherwise, may not receive care due to lack of transportation and other barriers. We are fortunate to have Jared and his team, trained and ready to meet the medical needs of the communities we serve.”

The unit contains space and resources to complete lab tests on site, a patient room with wheelchair accessibility, a restroom, air conditioning, and even wireless internet and the previously mentioned device for patient telehealth visits with providers at other locations.

The team will announce their locations daily via RCCHC’s social media, listed below:

https://www.facebook.com/roanokechowancommunityhealthcenter/

https://www.twitter.com/thercchc/

Roanoke Chowan CHC (@thercchc) • Instagram photos and videos

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rcchc/