JAMESTOWN — Central Valley Health District has turned an ambulance into a mobile health unit that can be taken to rural communities.

“Right now, our biggest goal is to get it out in the community and get it noticed and get some visibility of it to know that it’s an option,” said Kara Falk, executive director of Central Valley Health.

The mobile health unit serves Stutsman and Logan counties.

Falk said having the mobile health unit gives individuals in rural areas access to Central Valley Health’s services.

“This provides a place that we can take to these small communities and have a place for their care and serve them,” she said.

In some rural towns, Central Valley Health does not have a location to meet with clients, said Kim Lee, director of nursing. Now, there is space for clients and a health care professional to speak in an exam-room setting.

“It makes it way easier to actually do education too, because rather than sitting outside where it’s hot or it’s cold or sitting in someone’s car window giving them immunizations, you are sitting there in a decent environment,” Falk said.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Falk said people got used to Central Valley Health coming to them to provide services.

“This is one way to get to them,” she said.

The mobile health unit was first used on Nov. 13 at S&R Truck Plaza for flu and coronavirus vaccines, Lee said.

“We can do any immunizations out of it,” she said.

Falk said Central Valley Health can expand the amount of vaccines it can bring to a school with the mobile health unit.

Lee said the mobile health unit also gives space to provide flu-shot clinics at businesses.

“We could do it in their parking lot and they could come up to us,” she said. “Hopefully next year, we get more on board to do that. “

Falk said the mobile health unit can go to rural locations to provide sports physicals and other services. She also said Central Valley Health could combine its services as well.

“We can combine, have WIC (Women, Infants and Children program) go with a public health nurse,” she said. “One person could work out of the mobile health unit and they could have their office. We could actually consolidate our time on the road.”

Central Valley Health purchased the ambulance from the Tower City Fire Department. Falk said the mobile health unit includes chairs, a small bench and lots of storage space. It also has a generator.

Lee said Central Valley Health could offer foot care in the mobile health unit and a sink would also be needed.

Falk said it would be nice for the mobile health unit to be successful and expand services that can be provided out of it.

“It would be great to be able to collaborate with other entities and provide mental health services to these rural communities and expand that way,” she said.

Falk said the vision would be for appointments to be scheduled online. She also said paperwork could be filled out when visiting clients in the mobile health unit.

The mobile health unit will be at the Buffalo Mall from 9 to 11 a.m. every Friday until Christmas. The mobile health unit will also be at the S&R Truck Plaza every Monday until Christmas from 9 to 11 a.m.

Masaki Ova joined The Jamestown Sun in August 2021 as a reporter. He grew up on a farm near Pingree, N.D. He majored in communications at the University of Jamestown, N.D.