Mobile health clinic bridges cultures in treating underserved families
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AA version of this story was posted on lasvegassun.com.
Las Vegas mother brings her infant to the Nevada Children’s Health Project Mobile Medical Unit in desperate need of help. The baby needs surgery on his tongue because he couldn’t latch onto her breast to feed. There’s another problem: The mother is a refugee from Uganda with limited resources. She also doesn’t speak English.
The mobile project was able to get the infant the needed care at no cost, including communicating with the mother through a phone-translation service.
And last year, a family of eight from the Congo that spoke Kinyarwanda, a language that can’t be Google translated, needed treatment for intestinal infections. They were treated at the mobile health care center without having to leave their apartment complex.
“One of the biggest barriers refugees have is locating specialists and care
providers who are willing to provide culturally sensitive care with interpretation in the family’s native language,” wrote Pamela Douglass Girgis, a pediatric nurse practitioner who helps run the clinic, via email.
“One would think this is a basic right, but unfortunately this is not reality.”
The mobile project, a blue trailer converted into a medical facility, gives free exams, referrals, medication and lab testing to any child or young adult up to age 21 who lacks health insurance or is on
Medicaid. At least 60 children are seen each week at the mobile clinic, which is in a different part of the valley on weekdays.
The mobile project is a partnership between Nevada Health Centers, a nonprofit with three health care clinics in Nevada, and Children’s Health Fund, a nonprofit in New York supporting mobile medical programs across the United States. Children’s Health Fund provided startup funds and gives money every year that, along with other donations, helps Nevada Health Centers sustain the program.
Many of the patients are homeless teenagers, refugees or child sex trafficking victims, officials said.
“Many factors such as socioeconomic status, cultural understanding, language barriers and health literacy have created a gap in health care equality for a growing number of Southern Nevadans,” said Michelle Schmitter, vice president
“One of the biggest barriers refugees have is locating specialists and care providers who are willing to provide culturally sensitive care with interpretation in the family’s native language.” Pamela Douglass Girgis, a pediatric nurse with Nevada Children’s Health Project Mobile Medical Unit