[Imc-newsroom] PRESS RELEASE

[Jeffrey Kemp]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                             For More Information:
 
Date:    June 20, 2002                                                                                                    Julie A. Pryde, MSW, LSW
                                                                                                                                    217.352.8486 x 196
                                                                                                                                    or  217.493.1671 (mobile)
 
 
Healthcare moves from the office into the streets
 
Hundreds of Champaign County residents suffer silently with diseases that could easily be prevented or treated.  Starting tonight, Champaign-Urbana Public Health plans to do something about it.
 
Wellness on Wheels is a new mobile approach to preventive health services that allows Champaign-Urbana residents to access healthcare in their own neighborhoods.  The program kicks-off tonight with a Street Party from 5pm-8pm at Champaign’s Douglass Center.  Local residents will have an opportunity to tour the 40-foot mobile clinic, meet the program’s staff, enjoy food and drinks, and register to win prizes.
 
“This is an excellent example of how our community can pull together, utilize its various resources, and meet a need.  It is collaboration at its finest”, said Julie Pryde, Director of CUPHD’s Division of HIV/STD/TB Prevention and co-coordinator of Wellness on Wheels.  “Public Health is about prevention.  The goal is to get our services to where they are most needed.  Wellness on Wheels does just that”.
 
Free health services include screenings for blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, HIV, STDs, TB, and hepatitis.  Carle’s mobile clinic will be staffed with nurses, counselors, and health educators from C-U Public Health.  Residents can get their health-related questions answered and receive referrals to other community resources. Counselors will also be available to help parents enroll their children up for the KidCare health insurance program.  Future plans include dental check-ups for kids and dental sealants.
 
Wellness on Wheels is a community collaboration between Champaign-Urbana Public health, Carle Foundation’s Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety, African American AIDS Awareness Project, Illinois Department of Public Health’s Center for Minority Health, and University of Illinois College of Medicine.  “The Mobile Clinic has mostly been used for outreach to rural areas.  We are excited about this new opportunity to partner with CUPHD to provide prevention services within the cities of Champaign and Urbana”, said Tamie Nagrodski, Carle Mobile Clinic Manager.
 
The project, which started with a remark from a Carle physician in an un-related meeting, has grown into a full-fledged program.  Carle’s Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety is providing their 40 foot mobile health clinic.  The project then got a kick-start with a grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Center for Minority Health.  Key informant interviews within the community assisted project developers with the program design.  Locations, times, and days were picked based on information collected in these surveys.  You can find the mobile outreach clinic parked at the Douglass Center in Champaign, Brookens Center in  Urbana, Shadowwood Mobile Home Community on North Market Street in Champaign, and the Washington Early Childhood School in Urbana.
 
“People have really come together in a big way to ensure the success of this project.  We have professionals volunteering their time, agencies allowing us to use their parking lots, businesses donating materials, and the media assisting us to make sure people learn about and utilize these free services”, said Jeffrey Kemp, Co-Coordinator of Wellness on Wheels.  
 
Wellness on Wheels is an idea whose time has come.
 
###
 
Jeffrey L. Kemp, MS
Prevention Coordinator, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District
Division of HIV/STD/TB Prevention & Management
Co-Lead Agent, Illinois HIV Prevention Region 6
710 North Neil Street
Champaign, IL 61820

phone 217.352.8486 x 177
fax 217.373.7906
mobile 217.621.4119

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