The Governor’s Wellmobile parks outside Bladensburg Elementary School on Thursdays administering vaccinations and providing physicals and basic health care, all for free.
No questions asked.
“I’m certain that we’ve saved people’s lives,” said Chris Simmons, 35, a nurse practitioner and team coordinator of the Central Maryland Wellmobile, a wheeled clinic with two exam rooms, a waiting area and a lab.
Operated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore, the Governor’s Wellmobile Program has four mobile clinics that travel around the state serving uninsured or underinsured patients at different locations four days each week, often in school parking lots or shopping centers.
They’re not intended to be primary care providers or emergency rooms. Gushing blood, broken bones and women in labor get sent to nearby hospitals. Instead, the Wellmobiles aim to save the state money by preventing future hospital visits.
Rebecca Wiseman, the program’s director, estimates the clinics saved Maryland $2.7 million last year by treating roughly 7,300 patients who often had nowhere else to turn except costly emergency rooms, which are reimbursed by the state.
Patient Dora Hercules, 49, of Oxon Hill said the clinic is always welcoming. A breast cancer survivor, Hercules was previously insured but her current job offers no health benefits. She relies on the Wellmobile for preventive care.
Hercules recommended the clinic to family and friends.
“They help all people,” she said.
A majority of patients are employed, but the absence or inadequacy of health insurance can force people into emergency rooms for routine problems, Simmons said.
In a report issued last year, the Census Bureau estimated that Maryland had about 755,000 uninsured, or about 13.5 percent of the state population, in the period from 2004 to 2006. That is a slightly lower rate than the nation as a whole.
And there are those who slip through the cracks.
“Some patients make just too much to qualify for the state Medicaid program, but don’t make enough to buy private insurance,” he said.
The Central Maryland Wellmobile serves locations in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, primarily treating Spanish-speakers. They see about 15 to 20 people a day, Simmons said, although this can shoot up to 40 or 50 when they perform school and sports physicals for students.
About five or six times daily, they might send “acute” patients to nearby hospitals for appendicitis, blood clots, abscesses and other emergencies. They sometimes diagnose cancer and draft treatment plans that involve coordination with hospitals, state programs and nonprofit organizations.
The bulk of cases are diabetes related, Simmons said. The disease can lead to catastrophic problems for sufferers who are undiagnosed or left untreated.
“If we can help people gain control of their diabetes, they’re much less likely to fall victim to ? wounds, amputations, very costly hospital stays, kidney disease, heart disease, loss of vision,” he said. “It has a huge impact down the road.”
The Wellmobile program started in 1994 as an effort to boost Maryland’s rates of childhood vaccination and evolved into a care p