SPRINGFIELD — A mobile health clinic is now gone after it went into a local city that took in thousands of migrants.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, people seeking medical care in Clark County are not waiting weeks and months compared to 2023.
The purpose was to lessen the strains on the healthcare system and improve access to care for all Springfield residents.
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News Center 7′s Mike Campbell said it came after the city was in the national spotlight after an immigration surge put the health care crisis in the national spotlight.
“So, I consider, as I said before, sacred work,” Rachel Litteral, Nurse Practitioner at Rocking Horse Community Health Center.
Campbell said Litteral is not working at their huge campus on Limestone Street.
She is in a cramped patient room inside the center’s mobile health clinic, a bright purple recreation vehicle (RV) that goes where patients are.
“Hypertension first, a ticking time bomb. So, strokes have happened that you know, we’ve caught after the fact. we get a lot of diabetes that’s been untreated for a long time,” said Litteral.
She said the area’s underserved population had big needs even before a migrant surge brought an estimated 15 to 20,000 Haitians to Clark County.
It overwhelmed the area’s healthcare system and forced Governor Mike DeWine to step in.
He worked closely with the Clark County Health District (CCHD). The state also brought its mobile health clinic to Clark County.
CCHD and the state claim appointment backlogs have been wiped out and more than 1,400 people have received vaccinations.
They have also done hundreds of blood pressure screenings and recertified 600 people for WIC benefits.
The state even sent their mobile clinic back to Columbus.
“We started at the end of 2022,” Stacy Lee, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Rocking Horse Community Center.
She said their two-year-old mobile clinic will stay in the community to continue meeting the needs.
“Definitely reaching more people and maybe just providing another opportunity,” said Lee.
“We’re going to save lives, it’s that simple,” Litterall added.
Campbell said Friday that DeWine is looking for spots to put a permanent health clinic in Clark County to help with long-term needs from the migrant surge.
The state has spent $13 million so far.
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