Healthcare notebook

UAMS opens new transplant clinic

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences opened a satellite transplant clinic in Texarkana last week, officials said in a news release.

The clinic opened Friday, and is for kidney and liver transplant patients. It will regularly be open on the fourth Friday of the month at the UAMS Southwest Regional campus.

Post-transplant follow-up care, care for liver failure, management of bile duct disorders and other services are available. Eventually, physicians hope to offer pre-transplant care, including evaluating if a patient can receive a transplant, an announcement said.

The clinic joins a UAMS transplant satellite center in Jonesboro that opened this year and a similar facility in Fayetteville that opened in 2019. UAMS runs the state’s only adult kidney and liver transplant programs.

Arkansas is among states with the highest rates of kidney disease deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mobile health unit to go around state

Baptist Health opened a mobile health unit to mark the system’s 100th anniversary, the health system announced last week.

The 40-foot-long mobile health unit will offer covid-19 vaccines and health screenings during visits around the state. It has a waiting area and two exam rooms, and can be accessed by wheelchair.

“We remain focused on responding to changing health care needs by meeting people where they are,” system chief executive Troy Wells said in a statement.

Their unit “will enable us to bring free access to critical health and wellness tools in areas that might not otherwise be served,” he continued.

Other groups — including Arkansas Children’s hospital, New York Institute of Technology College of Medicine at Arkansas State University and the Arkansas Minority Health Commission — have experimented with mobile health units in recent years.

Public health experts say mobile models help reach rural and low-income communities more effectively.