Vermillion-Parke mobile health center to deliver services to children in area school corporations
VERMILLION-PARKE – Vermillion-Parke Community Health Center's (VPCHC) mobile School-Based Health Center is slated to open in August 2012. The mobile health center will help to reduce health care disparities, enhance continuity of care and empower the area's homeless and vulnerable populations to become more self-sustaining.
The project received a federal school-based capital grant in August 2011 as part of the Affordable Care Act. Recently, the project received additional funding that will pay for equipment that will aid in the delivery of essential medical services to children attending any school within the five Parke and Vermillion County school corporations. By identifying and addressing health problems that may negatively affect the learning process, this mobile clinic will help children stay in school and succeed.
"This additional funding will further allow this mobile health clinic to provide much needed services to the schools in our community," said Elizabeth Burrows, CEO of Vermillion-Parke Community Health Center.
"Ensuring proper health care for children in the Vermillion-Parke region is of great importance to us," said Dr. Caroline Carney Doebbeling, medical director for MDwise, one of the organizations that helped to provide this additional funding. "By providing this additional funding, we are helping parents achieve peace of mind knowing that their children have the ability to receive necessary health care services through this mobile health clinic. We're excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this important initiative."
School-based Health Centers (SBHC) were first created in the late 1970s in Dallas as a way to provide basic health care to medically underserved children and adolescents. SBHCs improve students' overall health and wellness through health screenings, education, and disease prevention activities. According to the 2007-2008 survey conducted by the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, there are an estimated 1,910 SBHCs nationwide, and 34 in Indiana alone.
The Vermillion-Parke School-Based Health Center is being made possible through collaboration between MDwise Hoosier Alliance, Union Hospital Health Group and Union Hospital Clinton.
About MDwise
MDwise is Indiana’s only not-for-profit managed health care company exclusively serving many of the state’s most underserved citizens – Hoosier children and adults who are uninsured or underinsured. MDwise’s services are currently provided to more than 300,000 Hoosier Healthwise, Care Select and Healthy Indiana Plan members in partnership with more than 1,400 primary medical providers and a statewide array of specialists, hospitals and other providers. By providing a fully integrated network of hospitals, community health centers, physicians and ancillary providers, MDwise’s services offer a coordinated, comprehensive approach to managing the cost and utilization of Indiana’s health care services. For more information, visit MDwise.org.
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