Mayo Clinic Health System’s mobile health clinic travels between four rural communities to provide patients with year-round preventive health screenings and chronic disease management. (Mayo Clinic)
Mayo Clinic Health System’s mobile health clinic travels between four rural communities to provide patients with year-round preventive health screenings and chronic disease management. (Mayo Clinic)
A patient is examined by a health care provider inside the mobile health clinic. (Mayo Clinic)
Mayo Clinic Health System’s mobile health clinic was launched in July 2021 to bring Mayo Clinic care closer to patients in rural communities in southern Minnesota.
This month, the mobile health clinic marked its 1,000th patient appointment, and 10,000 miles of travel among the four rural communities it serves: Blooming Prairie, Butterfield, Kenyon and Sherburn, Minnesota.
The mobile health clinic features two exam rooms, an on-site laboratory and telehealth equipment to connect patients to specialty care. It provides patients with year-round preventive health screenings and chronic disease management.
Services include:
Acute illness and infection
Anticoagulation (lab draws)
Chronic disease checks
Immunizations
Medication refills and checks
Pediatrics
Preventive services
Prenatal visits (virtual)
Wellness visits
“Delivering Mayo Clinic care to the doorsteps in these communities using cutting-edge technology not only brings care more conveniently to our patients where they live, but also it helps us bridge health care gaps in rural areas where access challenges exist historically,” says Prathibha Varkey, M.B.B.S., president of Mayo Clinic Health System.
“The biggest thing is that the mobile health clinic reduces barriers to care,” says Lynsi Romportl, D.N.P., a nurse practitioner who sees patients aboard the mobile health clinic. “Patients aren’t faced with arranging transportation to our clinics in Faribault or Owatonna, and spending up to a half-day for something as simple as a blood draw. Also, it’s really nice for patients to have one provider and one team to work with. I get to know them, and they get to know me.”
Herb Castle of Kenyon is one of Romportl’s patients, and he credits her with helping him get his Type 2 diabetes under control.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was diagnosed, so I went into denial,” says Castle. “But Dr. Lynsi convinced me this wasn’t something I could ignore. I really credit her communication and follow-up with bringing down my A1C levels.”
Whenever the mobile clinic is in Kenyon, Castle can walk a couple of blocks for blood tests and to go over his medications with Romportl rather than drive 20 minutes to Faribault. “What’s not to love about it,” asks Castle.
