University of Iowa Mobile Clinic

The Mobile Clinic Mission:
Healthcare is a universal human right. Many people in our community are currently denied this right. The Mobile Clinic was founded to:
1. Provide free health screening, prevention, education, and basic health services to underserved populations in and around Iowa City.
2. Utilize interdisciplinary potential from the allied health sciences at the University of Iowa.
3. Raise awareness of existing health resources in the community.
4. Connect people in the communities served by these resources.
5. Partner with these communities to assess their changing needs and adapt our services to reflect these changes.
6. Advocate for patients both in clinics and the larger social arena.

HESO is Mobile Clinic’s Health Education and Screening Outreach Model

The goal of this model is to expand one of our strengths, our patient education. Our Health Education and Screening Outreach (HESO) Model is being integrated into our clinics during the Fall of 2006 alongside our traditional clinic model. We will continue to offer our current services (physical exams and a few basic laboratory tests) at our sites and will increasingly educate our patients in one-on-one discussions about their health conditions and concerns.

Our HESO Model enables us to:
1. Identify health topics (i.e. cholesterol, diabetes etc.) that pertain to a specific patient and address these issues in a one-on-one discussion with a trained Health Educator.
2. Connect the patient to community resources that may be useful to them.
3. Cover gaps in underserved communities while encouraging patients to establish regular primary care in their own communities.
4. Utilize all types of student volunteers that can be trained as Health Educators.
5. Travel to underserved areas with our bus and a small, resourceful group of volunteers.

Mobile Clinic Consititution