Family Medical Mobile Unit

Family nurse practitioner Vincent Johnson is among a team of health care providers who are aboard one of Family Health Center's mobile health units taking care to patients in their own neighborhood.

Johnson said providing needed health care and education to patients in North, including many who are uninsured and underinsured, has been a rewarding experience for him.

"For me, it's reaching the patient population that otherwise wouldn't have care, the folks who are having those financial insecurities. It's remarkable how much education the community needs as a whole," Johnson said.

we've had patients come on and they're like, 'Well, I saw a doctor five years ago, but they didn't tell me this.' So I will literally sit down and give you the time you need. I will literally break things down to the absolute simplest concepts. I feel like that has gone remarkably," he said.

Family Health Centers Inc. in Orangeburg has been accredited as a primary care medical home by The Joint Commission. Its service area includes seven satellite sites.

Adult medicine, pediatrics and OB/GYN are among the services provided.

The agency is reaching out within the community with its Family Medical Mobile Unit, which is a state-of-the-art vehicle equipped with two primary medical exam rooms and lab capabilities.

Orangeburg County resident Rebecca Corbett recently received services at the North clinic.

"I did not know until recently that this North Mobile Unit provides all of these services!... It is important for our community to know what an asset this service is and what they can receive for their care needs here," Corbett said.

She said she was impressed with the professionalism of Johnson and his team.

"They provided friendly and professional interaction. I can tell that they work together well and with respect for each other and for their patients. FNP Vince Johnson has top level education, valuable experience and a history of military service with our Navy," Corbett said.

"I feel confident that I am getting the best primary care with him. Being a registered nurse, I tend to prefer working with a good nurse practitioner because they have the skillset and understanding of direct, comprehensive patient care as a foundation. We are so very fortunate to have FNP Vince Johnson and his solid team running this North Mobile Unit," she said.

The mobile health unit is stationed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday in North. Walk-ins are welcome. Telehealth services are provided from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Friday at the FHC's training center located at FHC's main Orangeburg site on Magnolia Street.

Dr. Pamela R. Dugeon, MSN-Ed., RN, is the director of the Nursing Education Practice Quality and Retention - Mobile Health Training, or NEPQR-MHTP, program. The program through which the mobile unit is provided is funded with a four-year $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration.

"The areas are your rural areas, where you have a lot of chronic conditions, where you have a high rate of ED visits for acute situations, where you have a lot of patients who are not receiving primary care services," Dugeon said.

"A lot of these patients face social determinants of health factors such as transportation barriers, financial situations that happen where they can't get the medical care that they need. So the grant was formulated under the premise that we would be able to try to bring those services to the patients," she said.

Johnson said A1-C, blood glucose, flu, strep and urinalysis are among the standard laboratory testing that is conducted at the mobile unit.

Dugeon said Johnson also coordinates the scheduling for an arsenal of nurses who serve the clinic.

"Nurses that participate in this program come one day a week. They follow a program whether they're assigned to come to (the main Orangeburg site) to do telehealth services, or they can go to the mobile and work with Mr. Johnson," she said.

Primary care for adults and children; diabetes and hypertension education; COVID-19 testing; and access to medication through referrals to the FHC pharmacy are among the other services provided through the clinic.

Johnson said he can also refer patients to the optometry, dental, podiatry, behavioral health and other services that the FHC provides.

"Some days we see a lot of walk-ins of varying degrees of illness. Some we've actually had to call emergency departments for," he said.

Bridget Tyler is the driver of the mobile unit who also serves as a financial service representative.

She said the FHC tries to provide a friendly, inviting environment in which patients can receive care, with Johnson adding, "The most important piece is being able to meet people where they are."

"I love what we do here because we have a team. It's an honest team and we work together…. We want to know how patients feel about their visit. Is there anything else we can do to make it more pleasurable?" Tyler said.

She continued, "You come in a sterile environment, and you just think that it's going to be uptight. No, we treat patients like family. At the end of their visit, they're smiling. Even though they're sick, they're laughing and smiling."

Tyler said Johnson also walks throughout the North community making connections with its members.

"They are in love with him. They're really impressed … with the whole idea of a mobile unit being out there," she said.

Dugeon said the goal is to sustain the care beyond the federal grant funding which provides the mobile unit.

"A part of our sustainability plan is to be sure that we develop a program that will continue some of the initiatives that were started by the mobile. For example, the telehealth services which enable us to reach patients that don't have transportation to get to the medical provider, where we can actually provide services for them either over the telephone, or even to branch out to have remote telehealth services where we can monitor blood pressures and things like that," Dugeon said.

She said care management services will also be eyed to serve patients "that don't understand or are not aware of the resources that are available for them in the community, or who have food insecurity."

"These are huge determining factors in their overall health outcomes. So we want to be sure that they have the resources that they need, and we'd like to be the liaison to connect them to those resources," Dugeon said.

She said the ultimate goal is to make sure the needs of the patients are taken care of.

"We want to do more than just put a band-aid on whatever the problem is…. A lot of times, we just want to kind of tape it up and keep it moving, but we really want these people to walk away with the resources that they need to be able to take care of themselves," Dugeon said.

The mobile unit is North is located at the Community Center Square at 7904 Salley Road and be reached by phone at 803-531-9640. Individuals seeking additional information, including on making appointments with the FHC, can also call that number.