Expanding Access to Healthcare During COVID-19 Response by Investing in Mobile Infrastructure
This discussion will provide insight to other mobile healthcare providers on strategic ways to meet program deliverables during challenging times, methods to consider alternative service lines, and techniques to develop strategic community partnerships. Jefferson County Health Department will provide an overview of their experiences and challenges providing mobile health services during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Maintaining healthcare services during a communicable disease outbreak can be difficult for any healthcare facility, but is especially difficult when those services are being provided in a small, limited space with reduced airflow. Innovative ideas will be discussed for how safe and effective healthcare services were provided at each stage of the Pandemic. This overview will describe how resources were shifted and utilized in strategic ways during the Pandemic to meet the community needs for healthcare services. This presentation will highlight how unique opportunities can be utilized to not only sustain mobile programs, but also grow and expand service lines. Jefferson County Health Department grew from three mobile units prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic to six units in 2022. This discussion will include the funding opportunities utilized to expand the mobile services line, the data utilized to determine what services will be added to the healthcare menu, and how the expanded services were resourced and sustained through continued partnerships. Additionally, this discussion will include how to maximize relationships during challenging times to create future partners. The Jefferson County Health Department created strong relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic because of case investigation and contact tracing requirements with schools, nursing homes, congregate care facilities, local businesses, first responders and local churches. Efforts were put toward ensuring those relationships were maintained throughout each stage of the Pandemic. As a result, those relationships helped provide locations for vaccinations, mobile testing sites, dental services, and primary care services in 2022.