Beebe Healthcare is preparing to launch a mobile van to take healthcare services into Sussex County communities.
The Mobile Health Clinic should be operational by the end of this year, according to Beebe Healthcare president and CEO Dr. David Tam.
“It’s more than a van. It’s also a full mobile home that has all the pop-outs to really expand," said Tam. "So it really gives clinical opportunities to examine patients in private settings.”
The mobile clinic will be operated by Beebe’s Population Health and Community Outreach departments in partnership with Beebe Behavioral Health.
It will be staffed with doctors, nurses and technicians offering free screenings to underserved populations and addressing behavioral and physical health needs.
Dr. Tam says healthcare is changing rapidly and serving Sussex County means covering the state’s largest geographic area - with both rural and urban populations. It also means serving different ethnicities, the LGBTQ community and more.
“And what we want to do is create an opportunity for taking care to the patient. You know there’s so many patients who actually don’t have transportation and can’t get to a physical location," said Tam. "So we are being non-traditional in making sure that we bring clinical care to the patient starting with addiction medicine and mental health services.”
The 36-foot-long van cost $600,000 and was funded by a $550,000 Statewide Opioid Response grant from the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH).
Tam says the Carl M. Freeman Foundation also gave Beebe Healthcare a 370,000, three-year matching grant to help support the hospitals’ initiative with community healthcare.
There is no set schedule for the van yet, but Tam notes if the Mobile Health Clinic proves successful, there are plans to add another one.
