County launches mobile clinic with van
Jun. 29—A new Clatsop County mobile clinic will help bring public health services, such as disease testing and vaccinations, to remote areas on the North Coast.
The county has purchased a van for $160,000 using an Oregon Health Authority grant for services related to pandemic response.
The 2021 Ford E-450, previously used by a New York university, has been refurbished for the county Public Health Department, which plans to roll out the van in the first half of July.
Lisa McClean, the county's nurse manager and clinic supervisor, said the department is working out the van's schedule.
In a given week, the mobile clinic may spend time in Astoria, Warrenton or Seaside, as well as smaller, underserved communities such as Knappa and Jewell. The van will be staffed with at least two public health employees.
Emblazoned with the health department logo, the mobile clinic will reach schools, workplaces and central locations in communities, but is unlikely to make home visits or park on residential streets, as it should be kept near a power source.
In Cannon Beach, the van may be used to serve the Hispanic community, delivering vaccines as the Oregon Health Authority has done.
The front of the van is equipped for blood draws; the back has an exam table.
"We have new and emerging diseases, for as long as nature and humans have commingled," McClean said, "and so as Public Health continues to build stable infrastructure, we have this van."
The van arrives as coronavirus cases spike and the county begins dismantling its COVID-19 vaccination and drive-thru testing services at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center in Warrenton.
The county had been giving weekly boosters at Camp Rilea. As that operation winds down, the vaccination supplies will be used to stock the van. Beginning on Friday, the county's drive-thru testing will take place at the household hazardous waste facility on Williamsport Road in Astoria.
At first, the department will use the van primarily to offer COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters. "That's kind of our priority right now," McClean said.
In December, the county's overall COVID-19 vaccination rate reached 70% — among the highest in Oregon — but as of earlier this month had yet to breach 75%.
Come fall, the mobile clinic may be used in schools' student immunizations efforts. "Our hope is, we will be able to offer other vaccines with the van," McClean said.
As for workplaces, McClean imagined a scenario where a large employer — a mill or cannery, say — has an employee who tests positive for tuberculosis. To investigate how many others contracted the disease, the Public Health Department would normally send out a team and convert that employer's lunchroom or other workspace into a clinic. With the van, the county could bring its own.
Recently, a company contacted the Public Health Department to vaccinate their employees against hepatitis B. The company was looking to schedule appointments for more than a dozen people at the county's clinic on Exchange Street in Astoria. Getting everyone vaccinated at the clinic could take about two days. "This time we can just take the van out there and probably be done within an hour or two," McClean said.
A mobile clinic has long been on the department's wish list, Margo Lalich, the county's interim public health director, said at a recent Board of Commissioners work session. Mobile clinics are used widely by public health departments, including in Tillamook County.
"This is quite historic for Public Health in Clatsop County, and I think it's just a huge relief for us," Lalich said. "And it will be, I think, a relief for the community once they get more familiar with seeing us out on the streets."
