Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has achieved many accomplishments within its School of Health Sciences in preparing Black students to be successful in health-related fields. One in particular is that the historically Black college and university (HBCU) is the only one in the country that has a year-round mobile health unit.
The mobile unit, called the Rams Know H.O.W. Mobile Clinic and run by WSSU’s Center for Eliminating Health Disparities (CEEHD), began providing free health screening services to the East Winston-Salem or East Winston community in 2011 after receiving a gift from Novant Health.
The unit has an exam room, a lab floor for blood draws, a hearing room and other typical doctor’s office amenities. Novant Health made the donation as a “way to try to address the excessive emergency room visits from our lower income residents,” says Dr. Melicia C. Whitt-Glover, CEEHD’s interim director. “They wanted to try to do some[thing] to see if doing screenings in the community could help to address issues earlier before they started using their emergency room for care.”
CEEHD has cared for nearly 10,000 uninsured or underinsured residents through the mobile unit since its inception, according to the university.
One of the most important people involved with the mobile unit is Aaron Jackson, the mobile clinic coordinator, Whitt-Glover says. “He does everything from patient care to addressing mechanical issues with the mobile unit to organizing and getting the mobile unit for inspection to negotiating with the city to be able to provide water on the mobile unit,” she says, adding that she believes he is the “face” of the unit.
In the beginning, students and members of the East Winston-Salem community that wanted the mobile clinic to give screenings at local health events were required to make requests online four to six weeks before the date of the event.
After seeing the mobile clinic’s success, WSSU students and faculty noticed the need for more readily available health care in the East Winston-Salem community.
