Community health center goes mobile, expands their reach
Cempa Community Care, formerly known as Chattanooga CARES, is an important health resource for the scenic city. From HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) treatment to STI testing and expanding to become a community health center offering primary care, Cempa provides a lot to help Chattanooga residents in need of care.
More recently, Cempa has expanded their reach outside the city to serve some of the Southeast’s more rural counties, so they can provide care in places where access to medical treatment may not be readily available.
Last August, Cempa unveiled their Mobile Clinic, which is exactly what it sounds like: a health clinic on wheels. The Mobile Clinic aims to provide care to those in rural counties who may not have access to doctors or transportation to get to a doctor.
“I’m a huge advocate for the Mobile Clinic. I feel like it’s going to be such a positive asset in all these communities, and every county is so excited to have us. We’ve been in Bradley [County] since August, and then in January, we’ll start visiting other counties,” explained Loni Howard, Cempa’s Mobile Clinic Coordinator.
This past Monday, January 6th, the Mobile Clinic began visiting rural counties outside of Bradley, where they’ve been stationed while getting the clinic underway. Howard explained the Mobile Clinic will be in Bledsoe, Rhea, McMinn, Marion, and Bradley counties twice a month in January. Moving forward, the Mobile Clinic aims to serve Franklin, Grundy, Sequatchie, Meigs, and Polk counties as well.
The Mobile Clinic will be offering many of the same services already available in Cempa’s downtown clinic on East 3rd Street. These services include, but are not limited to, HIV and HCV treatment, diagnostic and laboratory testing, primary care, PrEP, behavioral risk assessment, subsequent counseling and referrals, preventive care and screening, prescription and management of medication therapy, and more.
In addition to the variety of services available on the Mobile Clinic, Howard explained they will also utilize a telehealth system, meaning that patients on the Mobile Clinic will be connected with a doctor in Cempa’s downtown clinic, regardless of what county they’re in.
“We’re implementing a telehealth program, so the patient will come on the Mobile Clinic in their county and be connected via video conferencing to our provider in Chattanooga. We’ll have televisit equipment that will allow the provider to hear into a stethoscope, as well as see into a patient’s ears or throat if needed. Then the patient will receive all blood work and other services as usual on the Mobile Clinic,” Howard said.
In order to see the maximum number of patients, Howard explained the Mobile Clinic will typically be scheduling patients every 15 minutes. The Mobile Clinic arrives in the specified county in the morning, between 8 and 10 a.m., and typically stays on-site until 2 or 3 p.m.
The Mobile Clinic is grant-funded, so much like the clinic downtown, they see patients both with and without insurance.
Because the Mobile Clinic has had such a great turnout in Bradley County, Howard explained that Cempa is also looking forward to making a difference in other counties where transportation and access to care are harder to obtain.
For a full list of services available on the Mobile Clinic or to view the January calendar, which lists times and locations for the Mobile Clinic, visit Cempa’s website at cempa.org.