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WARREN – The city will purchase a $230,000 neighborhood health clinic van to provide medical care to residents in their neighborhood instead of waiting for them to come to the Warren City Health District offices.
The new vehicle will allow the city’s health district to conduct preventive screenings such as blood pressure; conducting glucose and cholesterol tests; giving flu, covid-19 and other vaccines; Provide HIV, STD and Hepatitis C testing; It also promotes healthy living.
“With the move at St. Joseph’s (Warren) Hospital, there may be some people who feel they are not getting the services they need. Sherrill Strozer, director of nursing at the Warren City Health District, said. “We know that we are not reaching everyone in the city who needs medical attention because when we participate in health fairs in churches, barbershops and other places, it is often crowded. They don’t come to our clinic.
Mercy Health announced in May that it would move St. Joseph Warren Hospital from Eastland Avenue downtown to a new 62-acre campus next to Kent State University’s Trumbull campus in Champion.
The new 400,000-square-foot facility — the first hospital built in the Mahoning Valley since Mercy opened St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital in 2007 — is planned to have 241 beds, provide full inpatient and outpatient services, and have room to grow.
In addition, a medical office building for specialized care is planned adjacent to the hospital.
On Eastland Avenue SE, the current facility will be demolished, but Mercy will maintain the grounds and provide outpatient services in a medical office building next to the hospital.
Strother said people — especially minority communities — don’t come to the city’s health clinic, and feel they won’t be able to get services after the current St. Joseph’s closes.
“We want to establish a level of trust.” She said. “We do that by taking services to them. We want them to know they’re seen and we’re interested in serving their needs by bringing services where they are.”
“People are often more open to providing information about their health concerns if they experience them in person.” said Strother.
Funding for the vehicle comes from $184,149 from the Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation and a $75,000 gift from Warren Councilman Ronald C. White, D-7th Ward, with each council member expected to contribute $500,000 in funds. US bailout funds. With this contribution, White will have $361,900 left over from the ward’s ARP funding allocation.
Additionally, the Department of Health has been approved for another $75,000 grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials and City Health Officials Award-Partnership Award for Immunization Equity Project to address inequities in COVID-19 and influenza vaccine coverage among racial and ethnic groups.
“One of the biggest advantages of mobile clinics is that they make the services easily accessible to people who cannot afford them.” She said. “The fact that these clinics are mobile is to bring these services into the homes of people who cannot walk, drive or drive to health clinics and hospitals.”
The idea for the mobile van came as Strother was applying for funding in various census tracts around the city that showed a high social vulnerability index.
In the year Strater remembers working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in the mid-1990s when she worked on a similar, but smaller, version of the mobile health clinic.
“I don’t know of anything like this in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.” She said.
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