Hartford

Making Care Mobile: Neighborhood Health Team Expands Access To Health Care

The Hartford HealthCare team sets up mobile clinics in neighborhoods across the state to provide care to people who might not be able to easily see a doctor.

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If you have access to a doctor, it might be something you take for granted. Hartford HealthCare is working to reach the thousands of people across the state who might not be able to visit a clinic.

The Neighborhood Health team is making healthcare mobile and bringing it to the neighborhoods where it is needed the most.

Getting a checkup and handling a health condition is fairly routine. However, the opportunity to go to an appointment brings Felix Herrera Huasasquiche to tears.

“There are people who don’t have care,” Herrera said in Spanish. “They care for you.”

Herrera is from Peru and has lived in Hartford for seven months now. Although he is dealing with blood pressure issues, he says getting healthcare is not easy for him.

“For us, immigrants, we don’t have a way to go to the hospital,” Herrera said.

He is one of thousands of people to visit a Hartford HealthCare Neighborhood Health Clinic.

“We embed ourselves within the hearts of the communities,” Kelly Toth, Neighborhood Health system director and nurse practitioner, said.

The pop-up clinics are set up in different neighborhoods across the state Monday through Friday.

“We'll be in shelters, soup kitchens, food pantries,” Toth said. “There are some folks that we know what doorstep they sleep in, and we go directly to them.”

At Mi Casa Community Center in Hartford Wednesday, the team of 10 provided checkups, care and social services.

They work with onsite language interpreters or use virtual translators to make communication with patients clear.

The program started in August of 2021 in response to the pandemic.

“Despite mass vaccine sites and mass testing sites, there was still a population left behind,” Toth said.

Since then, Neighborhood Health has expanded beyond COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, now offering screenings, standard immunizations and more.

“We realized if they couldn't access testing and vaccines, they can't access regular health care,” Toth said.

In the first year since the Neighborhood Heath clinics opened, they have served more than 2,700 people.

“A vast majority of them are the housing insecure, so truly homeless and sleeping on the street,” Toth said. “We also have seen a rather significant increase in those seeking asylum from other countries. So we try to bridge that gap for them.”

Making care mobile. The program also utilizes three “CareVans” to transport patients, equipment and supplies.

“We also carry coats, gloves, socks, and at times one of our other vans also holds snacks, juice,” Dawn Filippa, Neighborhood Health system operations manager and registered nurse, said.

A recent “Fill the CareVan” campaign helped the providers get much-needed donations. They delivered 400 pounds of food to soup kitchens facing supply chain issues, and provided hygiene kits and winter survival items to the homeless, taking a holistic approach to health care.

The efforts are turning around health outcomes and changing lives.

“The principle that one can do it for free. For free!” Herrera said. “It makes me emotional.”

The Neighborhood Health team has an Amazon wish list. Anyone who wants to donate supplies to those in need can find the QR code to access that list on the Neighborhood Health website.

The team also held a big holiday meal earlier this month for their clients, spreading cheer to those who might not otherwise have a chance to celebrate this season.

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