Patients are now able to get primary care services through Augusta Health’s new traveling clinic. It was made possible with lots of support from community donors. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge reports.
Full disclosure: Augusta Health underwrites programming on WMRA.
Melissa Reeves is the medical office manager for the Augusta Health Neighborhood Clinic, formerly known as the Augusta Health Mobile Clinic. The new medical unit is a more efficient way for the staff to visit communities and offer care.
MELISSA REEVES: So, we, what we currently do is go to a community partner space and set up a clinic. So, we bring all of the things that are already in here into a space and set it up for about four hours and then we pack it all up and take it all back and we redo it every day. So this makes everything a lot easier and a lot faster.
Reeves says they work with community partners, including Middlebrook Trace Apartments, the Verona Community Center, and about two dozen other county places. She says they began those partnerships during the pandemic, where they conducted COVID tests or administered vaccines.
REEVES: So, when… COVID kind of went away, then we just continued the community partnership, and the health free clinic for Augusta County actually closed during COVID as well. So, a couple of people that currently still work for us… they kinda came together and came up with this idea. And so, they just continued the community partnerships and started what we call the pop-up clinics in those spaces.
Reeves says they have operate 27 clinics a month now, including the new locations they’ve added with the addition of the mobile unit. They set up at Middlebrook Trace Apartments the first Wednesday of every month.
REEVES: Every location that we have, except for one, allows us to see patients from anywhere. So anybody can come to Middlebrook Trace -- you don’t have to live here. You can come here and be seen here as a patient.
Reeves says their data show positive outcomes for patients.
REEVES: In the patients that we see, we have reduced ER visits, reduced hospital admissions, and reduced urgent care visits as well.
Reeves says they sometimes do follow-ups a little more often than once a month if needed, where they will have patients come to a different clinic. She says the clinics they have now cover almost all of Augusta County, but they’re going to be heading across the mountain to McDowell to host a clinic there as well.
Laura Miller, the nurse for the neighborhood clinic, says they offer most basic vaccines, including tetanus, hepatitis and pneumonia. They also do lab testing for flu and COVID infections. She believes the new medical unit will make things much more convenient for people, since a lot of their patients don’t have transportation.
Although Miller says patients may use health insurance if they have it, regardless, the patient never receives a bill from them. And that’s important, because Virginia is facing cuts to Medicaid, which she believes will lead to more patient visits.
Joan Stalzer is an internal medicine physician, and came to Augusta Health 16 years ago to be a hospitalist. She switched to the mobile clinic when it first started.
JOAN STALZER: I really wanted to do something that always felt good, that really got me out into the community… the interesting thing about the mobile neighborhood clinic is that we have a lot of dedicated individuals. Everybody is passionate about it. It’s not like just a job.
Stalzer says they also rely on others in the community for support, which helps create connections throughout the county.
STALZER: It’s just really wonderful to be able to help patients, whether, and it doesn’t matter if they have insurance, they don’t have insurance… that’s not a thing. We are just providing care, so that’s really awesome.
She says they still have issues they need to solve, including the cost of medications.
STALZER: You know, medications are expensive, but there are some that aren’t. So we try to get medication assistance when we can. There are some funds for it. There’s been a lot of philanthropy for the mobile neighborhood clinic. So that has really been helpful too.
Stalzer says they can refer people to other specialties as well.
STALZER:... and those groups are part of Augusta Health… so we can work them in. We have case managers also that will help. Because some of the tests or studies or treatments that are needed are expensive so we can help and try and see the best way to get that covered for these patients.
She also points to the clinic’s role in helping people who may face healthcare cuts.
STALZER: … we are facing the possibility of a lot of people not having healthcare. And we are here to pick that up. That makes the mission like just even more important.
The team says they’re ready to step in to face future challenges – whether it’s lack of access to health care, or increasing costs.
