The mobile health clinic is a Winnebago motor coach equipped with two private, handicapped-accessible exam rooms, a patient reception area and a restroom. The mobile clinic allows Des Moines University and partner organizations to deliver health services and provide outreach beyond the DMU Clinic and DMU’s campus.
Mobile Clinic Priorities
- Clinical services to underserved central Iowans
- Educational outreach
- Medical services for local community events
The mobile health clinic was secured through a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The mobile clinic is maintained by DMU, and available for “check-out” through a lease agreement to qualifying community partner organizations. (Please note that medical supplies and staffing/volunteers are not typically provided in such partner agreements.)
Requests for Mobile Clinic should be directed to the Executive Director of the Clinic, Phil Blumberg, at Philip.Blumberg@dmu.edu.
Mobile Clinic Community Partnership Examples
- Free Clinics of Iowa to provide services to underserved populations in the Des Moines metro area. Several Mobile Clinic sites have evolved into permanent, on-site clinics after utilizing the mobile unit to prove need.
- Proteus, Inc. provides farmworkers, immigrants, and others with various services that improve their health.
- Polk County Health Department to conduct HIV/STD screenings at LGBT community events.
Through DMU’s existing community medicine program, the Mobile Health Clinic expands the university’s ability to provide interdisciplinary medical services at local events such as health fairs, marathons and races, and other events. Under the supervision of DMU faculty, medical and other health science students provide services such as blood pressure screenings, diabetes screenings, EKG tests, cholesterol checks and osteopathic manual treatments.