Snohomish County Health Department unveils new mobile health van
EVERETT — The Snohomish County Health Department unveiled on Wednesday a new mobile health van — a project the department undertook to increase vaccination rates and bring care to rural or underserved areas.
Along with vaccinations, the new van can provide screenings for sexually transmitted diseases or Hepatitis C and share information on injury and violence prevention. About 20 to 25 people per hour can be vaccinated in the van, and about four people per hour could be screened for sexually transmitted diseases, said the health department’s assistant director, Pia Sampaga-Khim.
“It’s a great opportunity for SHD, for our staff, to be out in the community, for us to be more visible,” she said Wednesday. “… It’s really important for us to be serving folks who don’t have access.”
The van will be sent to events as a form of outreach, but also to geographic locations in the county the health department knows are currently underserved. Using internal data, the department hopes to target populations with low vaccination rates and bring the van to help increase vaccine coverage.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/snohomish-county-health-department-unveils-new-mobile-health-van/