Mass. General Brigham’s mobile health service has improved COVID-19 services for underserved populations.

Two new papers from Mass General Brigham show the effectiveness of bringing COVID-19 health care services to where people need them most. In early May 2021, Mass General Brigham’s team began providing Covid vaccines to underserved populations in the Greater Boston area by sending mobile health units to 12 primarily low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities in Massachusetts. Using community health vans, groups provide easily accessible vaccinations regardless of insurance, immigration status, or ability to pay. In the newspaper published today American Journal of Public Health, Mass. Gen. Brigham’s authors describe the successes and challenges of the new program, which had high vaccination rates among teenagers, non-white populations, and Hispanic populations compared to vaccination rates in state and local communities.

“To date, our program has provided nearly 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine,” said co-author Priya Sarin Gupta, MD, MHH, medical director of Community Care Van Initiatives at the Mass General Brigham & Kraft Center. Our goal was to connect with the people who have taken Covid-19 health and immunization services into the community. Data from the first few months of Mass General Brigham’s Community Care Vans, sometimes called ‘clinics on wheels’, show. If you do it – if you do it well – they will come.

by them AJPH paper, Sarin Gupta and colleagues outline what it took to build their program well and implement it effectively. The main components of the program include:

• Engage and collaborate with community non-profit organizations, local health departments and school board representatives;
• Engage staff vans with trained, multilingual staff and a large volunteer network;
• Identify the right places and times to reach communities most affected by Covid-19.

The program used a “dual equity” model by partnering with a local transportation company that was at risk of downsizing due to economic losses during the pandemic.

In a recently published accompanying paper Preventive medicine, investigators analyzed results from the first three months of the program. From May 20 to August 18, 2021, Community Health Trucks conducted 130 sessions and administered 2,622 Covid-19 vaccinations. During the study, only 20 percent of the people who received vaccinations from one of the mobile clinics identified as white. More than 56 percent listed their race as Hispanic (compared to the state’s vaccination rate of about 18 percent). In addition, participants are more likely to be young adults -; The average age of people vaccinated in mobile clinics was 31 years. These early findings allowed the program to be replicated and expanded to more communities, increasing the program’s reach to communities of color and people with the highest levels of health-related social needs.

According to the authors, mobile health units can be used to address issues related to — and sometimes in addition to — other community health needs. Covid-19. The Vans are now expanding their offerings to include a list of services to provide care for preventable and chronic conditions, including high blood pressure screening.

Already, we are seeing participants who are interested in taking the vaccine come to us and also get screened for high blood pressure while they are there -; And vice versa. Some participants asked, ‘What do you offer next?’ It gives me hope. If we can provide care with cultural humility and ensure that it is accessible to everyone, we can overcome barriers such as distrust.

Priya Sarin Gupta, MD, MPH, Medical Director of the Mass General Brigham & Kraft Center Community Care Van Initiative