KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Swope Mobile serves as a mobile medical clinic, offering healthcare to those experiencing homelessness and who may not have transportation to get the medical attention they need.
“I never needed it, but today I do,” Bryant Cheadle said. “It’s very crucial cause there’s a lot of people out here who really can’t fend for themselves.”
Cheadle is one of several people who uses the mobile medical clinic.
“It’s a blessing and I’m grateful,” Cheadle said.
The clinic goes out three days a week — Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — reaching out to the homeless communities.
“A lot of times, they don’t want to go for fear of being turned away without insurance, or whatever or they don’t have the means of getting there,” Mobile medical unit driver and registrar, Vincent Garrett said.
From shelters to halfway houses, health care providers reach out to roughly 2,500 homeless men, women and children.
“When you think about health care and homelessness a lot of people think that they can’t go to the doctor and they don’t have the ability and we actually take the doctor and bring them right to the door,” Family Nurse Practitioner, Rachel Melson said.
With the colder temperatures, they’re expecting to stay busy.
“It will pick up,” Garrett said. “A lot of times, they’ll come in here to get warm and then we’ll end up registering them and get them taken care of.”
They’ve already seen a number of patients affected by the weather.
“We’re already seeing so much frostbite and problems with hypothermia,” Melson said.
The mobile medical clinic provides a list of services: basic medical care, flu shots, pregnancy tests, mammograms, TBI testing, HIV screening, physicals, referrals for dental and vision care and more.
It also provides resources for job placement and social services.
If you'd like to learn more information, click here.
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