Healthcare returns to city's center
Community Howard, City of Kokomo partner to bring CareMobile downtown each week
Once upon a time, doctors had offices in downtown Kokomo. It seemed natural to set up shop in the hub of city activity and commerce. The doctors went where the people were. But as the city grew, medical services relocated. Downtown was no longer the center of attention.
Over the past 20 years, the city’s center has found new life, but medical services didn’t return. Community Howard Regional Health and the City of Kokomo hope to change that with the arrival of the Community CareMobile. The health clinic on wheels will call the City Hall parking lot home each Wednesday.
According to Community Howard administrator Jennifer Hindman, returning to downtown is every bit as natural as it was when physicians did it decades earlier when the city’s center drew people to it.
“What is really important to us is providing access to folks where they need it,” said Hindman. “When you look at downtown Kokomo, there has been a lot of development and growth and opportunities. That’s why we entered into our partnership with the YMCA to provide sports medicine services.
“We wanted to bring something downtown because there is not a primary care presence here. We had a conversation with Mayor Tyler Moore, and he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ It’s about access to care and meeting people where they’re at.”
The Community CareMobile will be located next to the city’s main trolley station in the City Hall parking lot every Wednesday, beginning Sept. 7, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. The health clinic on wheels will be staffed by a nurse practitioner who will have access to an on-board examination room and traditional testing equipment found in a doctor’s office.
Most importantly, the CareMobile is accessible for everyone.
“It is for adults who are acutely ill or for wellness visits,” said Hindman. “Anyone who wants to walk up may receive care. If you don’t have insurance, we’ll connect you to our Patient Assistance Fund. You don’t have to have an appointment, but you can re-schedule if the nurse wants to see you as a follow-up. We can also refer you elsewhere if you need specialty care.”
Mayor Moore said locating the CareMobile in the City Hall parking lot next to the main trolley station made complete sense. He was happy to say yes to the proposal.
“It’s a slam-dunk decision for us,” said Moore. “When Community came to us wanting to offer these services to downtown and wanted close proximity to our transit station where folks could benefit from it the most, it was a perfect fit. And to only sacrifice six or seven parking spots in a city lot one day a week, that’s a pretty good investment, I think.”
The Community CareMobile was donated to the hospital by the Community Howard Regional Health Foundation in 2011 in honor of the hospital’s 50th anniversary, and it was used to provide health screenings at various public events. But the hospital has spent the past year outfitting the mobile facility with the equipment necessary to transform it into a full-service clinic.
According to Colby Gonzales, one of the nurse practitioners who will staff the CareMobile downtown, there isn’t much in terms of standard care the hospital can’t provide with this new service.
“We can meet primary care needs,” said Gonzales. “We can have labs done here and full assessments. We can do vaccines and annual physicals. And if they need to be referred out for something, we can do that.”
“We’re not doing stitches or x-rays, but we will have an EKG on board,” added Hindman. “And we’re fully integrated with our electronic medical records so that anything done out here goes into the patient’s medical records and can be accessed.”
The Community Howard CareMobile will be open each Wednesday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. beginning Sept. 7. For additional information about Community Howard Regional Health and its services, visit its website by clicking here.