$1 million mobile medical units coming to Ouachita Parish

The local medical school will soon be offering services in the streets of Ouachita Parish.

The Ouachita Parish Police Jury approved $1 million to the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) for the purchase of two mobile medical units at Tuesday's night meeting.

The mobile units will offer preventive medicine, primary care, geriatric services, immunization clinics and disaster relief assistance to underserved populations in Ouachita Parish. Those underserved communities within the parish include rural, low-income, minority and elderly patients.

"This is a huge opportunity for Ouachita Parish and for VCOM, and being able to provide these medical units for the underserved population that can't make it in for stuff and cases of disasters and emergencies," Ouachita Parish Police Juror Larry Bratton said.

The units will be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and is estimated to cost between $800,000 and $1 million.

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The medical school will be responsible for the operations of the mobile units, including maintenance, staffing to operate the vehicles weekly or bi-weekly, supplies and partnerships with organizations that also have mobile medical units such as St. Francis Medical Center to prevent duplication of services.

Bratton said the medical school is also committed to developing and continuing partnerships for operations with other local entities, such as ULM's Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy and Geriatrics, the Ouachita Council on Aging, West Monroe and Monroe community centers and the West Ouachita Senior Center.

The mobile medical units will be available to serve newly displaced populations as needed during emergency and disaster relief situations. OPPJ Shane Smiley said when Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish evacuees were sheltered in the parish following Hurricane Ida, there was a need for a medical unit.

"There was certainly a need for a medical unit but we didn't have the okay to have a medical unit so you had folks with medical needs in a non-medical environment," Smiley said. "VCOM volunteered a lot of hours and they did a wonderful job, the students were professional and the administration was professional. That was one group of professionals who really stepped up to the plate and just said, 'Hey, what can we do to help. It doesn't'. They did intake, they checked folks in, they stayed there day in and day out, and certainly it does not go unnoticed."

Students at VCOM will also benefit from working on the mobile units and connecting with the community, particularly during the vaccination clinics.

"I don't want anyone to feel as if this is something that only benefits Ouachita Parish, this also benefits VCOM," Bratton said. "For their students to be able to get clinical time in these mobile medical units. We're scratching each others back on this aspect."

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: OPPJ approves $1 million for VCOM medical mobile units