UT Health Science Center at Houston Unveils New Mobile Clinic
Designed to Serve Hidalgo and Cameron County Patients
HOUSTON – (March 7, 2006)–After 11 years, 60,000 miles and 30,000 patient visits, the Mobile Health Clinic operated by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is yielding the road to a new, more advanced vehicle. The next-generation traveling medical van debuts March 8 at 10 a.m. in the Hidalgo and Cameron County region.
UT’s Mobile Health Clinic or Clinica de Salud Movil will be unveiled at La Feria Family Learning Center, located at FM 506, before heading on the road to deliver free health care services to the families of Hidalgo and Cameron counties.
On hand for the unveiling will be Edna Tamayo, Cameron County commissioner, as well as, physicians, staff and supporters of the outreach initiative.
Many families in the Valley live without access to medical care and without resources to pay for care–especially residents of colonias (from the Spanish word for “neighborhoods), which are rural communities in unincorporated areas that typically don’t have electricity, running water, safe and sanitary housing or paved roads, much less medical care. Approximately 400,000 Texans live in colonias.
The $238,000 van, purchased with state funds and private gifts from Mobile Medical Vehicles, Inc., offers three examining rooms; including an education room stocked with medical and nutritional information. The vibrant, orange-colored vehicle, designed and applied by Associated Graphics, Inc., is also equipped with the latest laboratory equipment and technology, including a telemedicine capability. “These patients can be checked by UT physicians who are hundreds of miles away and get prescriptions,” said Elma Requenez, a registered nurse and 8-year Mobile Health Clinic veteran.
The Mobile Health Clinic has been providing free health care in the Lower Rio Grande Valley since 1989 after the first van was purchased and renovated in 1988. The new 37-foot RV is the third UT-operated van to venture out daily across 60 to 100 miles of dirt roads to provide medical check-ups, immunizations and nutritional information.
“This is important for the area because diabetes is rampant, they need the medical attention and also the educational resources on how to eat healthier,” said Requenez. “These are working people without medical resources and education.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost one in six Americans is uninsured. In Texas, the uninsured ratio is one in four. Based on a State Comptroller analysis of federal data, the cities of Laredo, Brownsville and El Paso have the highest rates of residents lacking health insurance–one in three.
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