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Mobile Health Unit Expands Services and Referral Programs

   
The Mobile Health Unit provides free healthcare for uninsured women on the central coast.

Preventative care for chronic diseases often seen in low-income women, mental health referrals, and more comprehensive translations for Indigenous populations are now offered on CHR’s Women’s Mobile Health Unit. These changes are part of an expansion effort to better provide comprehensive services for Hispanic and Indigenous women who lack insurance and live in Northern Santa Barbara County. 

The unit started in 2019 as a collaboration between the NOOR foundation, Center for Health Research, and Marian Regional Medical Center’s medical residency program to provide women’s health on wheels in Santa Maria and Guadalupe.  These founding organizations were inspired to fill a gap in care for women in the central coast. 

Since its inception, the unit’s patient population has gradually increased from 47 per year to 225 in 2022.   

“We have a waiting list now, and there is a clear need for more clinic hours.  We are working hard for sources of funding to support more clinic hours and providing care on weekends,” said unit Director Phelan.  

The unit serves many farm-working women.  Prevalent conditions include back pain, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.  The unit has also expanded services to including more mental health referrals and materials for those who cannot read or write. 

The hope is that women are able to have their medical needs met on the unit, and also receive referrals for other basic needs. Providers and staff now give each patient on the unit information about mental health services, food distribution, and community resources during their intake. 

“Because of these referrals we have a couple success stories,” said Mobile Health Unit Coordinator Cristina Macedo, MSW. “They are receiving counseling every month and feeling much better.”  

Thanks to a grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation, the unit will soon have audiovisual and graphic materials for patients who speak Mixteco, which is one of the prevalent languages of Indigenous migrant farm labors from Mexico.  These new materials will help interpreters better communicate with patients about their symptoms and care.  

This is just the beginning of expansion efforts. In the next two years, the unit hopes to expand clinic hours to serve more patients who face major barriers to care in the Santa Maria and Guadalupe. 

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