UNMC launched its mobile nursing clinic Tuesday to address Nebraska’s rural shortage of those who specialize in the care of older adults.
A $300,000 federal stimulus grant funds the clinic — a 38-foot, custom-built vehicle — which will fill a critical need for comprehensive geriatric assessments for frail older adults in rural areas.
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U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson and Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, cut ribbons on UNMC’s new mobile nurse managed clinic on Tuesday. |
Starting in May, the mobile clinic, which will be staffed by three geriatric nurse practitioners, will rotate service in Norfolk, Neligh, and Red Cloud initially. The college hopes to expand to other locations in the future.
The clinic also will provide clinical training for students in the college’s geriatric nurse practitioner program.
Below are some campus and community responses to the clinic’s opening.
“This is an innovative and collaborative primary health care model that reaches out with a critically needed service to help vulnerable older Nebraskans in rural areas.” — Claudia Chaperon, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing and project director of the grant. Along with Sara Wolfson and a soon-to-be-hired nurse, Dr. Chaperon will help conduct the geriatric assessments in the mobile clinic.
“The mobile clinic will take care of the elderly who otherwise wouldn’t have access to these services, and it will help train medical professionals. By making these screening and preventive services more easily available to seniors, we hope it will reduce the need for more serious medical attention down the road. Clearly this is an extension of how the stimulus funds have been helpful.” — U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson
“It’s difficult for my patients to get to Omaha for comprehensive geriatric assessments. It will be of great help to have a multidisciplinary team that can look at the whole picture and come up with better treatment options. I think this is going to benefit patients, families and primary care physicians.” — Charles Harper Jr., M.D., internal medicine physician at Faith Regional Physician Services in Norfolk and a partner with the college’s mobile clinic.