This doctor?s office is small, but it makes house calls.
The Upper Chesapeake Healthlink community mobile medical unit is a doctor?s office on wheels that serves more than 250 Harford County residents a year.
“I don?t have health insurance, so it?s a wonderful service for me to come and get everything checked,” said Wilma Sullivan, a Pennsylvania resident who visited Upper Chesapeake?s mobile unit Tuesday in Bel Air.
Her sister, Forest Hill resident Pat McCracken, called the mobile unit “convenient.”
“I came because it?s easier, and you get your results in about 10 minutes,” she said.
Walking out of one of the unit?s two exam rooms Tuesday afternoon, Sandra Richardson, of Joppatowne, said, “Where I might not want to go to a doctor?s office and sit and wait, I came here.” Richardson said she wanted to get a screening for osteoporosis and to find out where her cholesterol level was.
“We?re a mini-clinic on wheels,” said Vicky Bands, the director of Upper Chesapeake?s Community Health Improvement and Occupational Health, which oversees the medical mobile unit. Bands said the mobile unit not only provides a variety of different health screenings at reduced rates, but also goes into numerous communities around Harford County, and provides free primary health care services for people who would otherwise not be able to afford it.
“In the event a patient needs a referral or needs to see a specialist, we will work with them to make sure they are covered,” Bands said. Bands said the unit has about 250 Harford County residents who are enrolled in its free mobile health clinic. Eligibility in the program in based on income, she said.
The next time the Upper Chesapeake mobile health unit will be in the community will be 2:30 p.m. Friday at the McFaul Community Center on MacPhail Road in Bel Air.
Bands said people interested in using theunit?s service could get more information by calling Upper Chesapeake at 443-643-1000.
