PARTNERS WORKING TOGETHER

The Saint Peter’s University Hospital’s Mobile Health Clinic is a licensed ambulatory care center which was staffed with an administrative assistant, technician, registered nurse, and primary healthcare provider, such as a Nurse Practitioner (NP) or Medical Doctor (MD). Beginning in April 2019, the Mobile Health Clinic delivered community-oriented primary care, which emphasized health promotion and a sustained relationship between the provider and patient. When patients have adequate access to high quality primary care, it can prevent avoidable conditions and/or hospital visits. Emergency Room visits tend to be higher in vulnerable populations throughout Middlesex County, specifically in New Brunswick, NJ.

Healthcare barriers, include but are not limited to transportation, language, and low literacy levels, which can lead patients to forgo preventative care. Saint Peter’s aims to increase access to healthcare by addressing those barriers for uninsured and low income patients. During 2019, the Mobile Health Clinic was located at Sacred Heart Church’s parking lot at 56 Throop Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ on select dates until the end of October. This site was chosen due to the great need for healthcare resources and a lack of transportation that many residents in this community experience. Saint Peter’s Mobile Health Clinic offered physical exams, sports physicals, vital signs measurements (temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respirations, and pulse oximetry), triage of walk-in patients, vaccinations, height and weight measurements, visual acuity testing, venipuncture, and various point-of-care tests and screenings, such as blood glucose, cholesterol, HbA1c, rapid strep, urine pregnancy, urine dipstick, and urinalysis.

Overall, the Mobile Health Clinic is a healthcare resource for the medically underserved and assists to promote health and wellness in these diverse populations. This initiative closely aligns with Healthier Middlesex’s vision and mission to work collaboratively with our community partners in bringing health and wellness activities to the population by meeting them where they live, learn, pray and play.