The HSC Pediatric Mobile Clinic utilizes a rich network of community resources to approach each patient from a whole health perspective.
The PMC is a pediatrician’s office on wheels, equipped with everything a provider needs to perform well-child checks, acute visits, vaccinations and more. This mobile care center travels to areas with limited access to health care resources across DFW to provides meaningful care for uninsured or low-income families.
The Peds Mobile Clinic has many community partners and programs that make its work possible, including Family Central, Catch One, My Health My Resources (MHMR), the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, Early Childhood Intervention, Enhanced Community Coordination, Healthy Start, Gill Children’s Services, Safe Haven, and many more.
A partnership with Child Care Associates allows the PMC to provide physicals for children 6 weeks to 5-years-old before entering the Head Start program.
“Child Care Associates recently called with an urgent request regarding a family they are working with,” PMC Social Worker Julia Marut said. “The family needed support from an Arabic speaker, as the mother is a single mother, has two children with special needs, and is having difficulty navigating health and community systems. I was able to speak with the social worker at Refugee Services of Texas who reached out to the mom and can help her get connected with an Arabic-speaking community of women in Fort Worth.”
Mobile clinic services can be especially helpful to those without reliable transportation or who are experiencing food insecurity.
Marut also worked with a mother of eight who relocated from California to Texas and was in the process of switching to Texas insurance.
By providing well-child exams and vaccines for the children, Marut discovered that the parents were also in need of medical care; the pair’s two children had special needs; and one teen could benefit from mental health services.
In addition, the mother disclosed that reliable transportation had been an issue and the family was dealing with food insecurity.
“As the social worker, I can provide some services in the home and have met with the family multiple times to help guide them to needed resources in our community,” Marut said. “Upon meeting with the family over time, I discovered their need for more intensive case management services.”
By following up on their Peds Mobile Clinic visit, the family was able to be set up for an Early Childhood Intervention evaluation for one child, and they were referred to the Early Childhood Services HOPES program.
“Now, the mother is receiving at-home visits from a family support coach who is assisting her with getting needed resources for children who are between 1-5 years old,” Marut said. “This mother also has two teenage children. The HOPES coach and I were able to assist the mother in getting mental health services from My Health My Resources of Tarrant County (MHMR) for her 15-year-old.”
Alcon vision clinic is new resource that is now available in West Fort Worth through Fort Worth ISD.
“What’s cool about this resource is kids can come in because they were referred from a school for their well-child check, and we check their vision and find out they’ve maybe even worn glasses in the past, but because they didn’t have insurance, they haven’t been checked recently,” Nurse Practioner Mandy Mendez said.
Mendez says the Alcon clinic provides acute visits, evaluations and more, even delivering orders directly to schools so the patients don’t have to have transportation to pick up their glasses.
“Alcon has been a super easy resource, an amazing resource,” Mendez said. “They also don’t ask any questions. It’s completely free. We can send patients right over and they do everything. It’s the best.”