While at North Elementary on Wednesday, the staff of the Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit provided health services to five students and then six more students at LaCroft on Thursday.

According to Benjamin Pecchia, clinical coordinator, Akron Children’s Mobile Care unit. The unit went into service in November after being donated to the Akron Children’s Hospital by the Ronald McDonald House Charities and serves the Mahoning Valley Region which includes Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbell counties.

“Our goal is to reach families who have difficult access to care,” Pecchia said. “So, whether it’s a school or a housing community or any sort of local community organization, we try to meet families where they are at and make it easier for them to obtain health care.”

Families are not billed for the services received. If the family has insurance, their insurance is billed since most well visits (checkups) are covered by insurance and all well visits are covered by Medicaid, Pecchia said. If a patient is uninsured, the Akron Children’s Mobile Unit has a fund through the Ronald McDonald House Charities that they utilize to help cover the cost of those businesses. Pecchia also noted that the Akron Children’s Mobile Unit is able to connect families to resources to help them obtain insurance and resources related to accessing health care.

Medical Assistant Wendy Madison, Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit, checks the blood pressure of LaCroft Kindergarten student Layla Smith, 6. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

DeAnna Bellville, nurse practitioner, Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit, said the services provided by the Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit include pretty much anything that can be done in a regular doctor’s office including well visits, sick visits, immunizations, sports physicals, blood work and more. Bellville reiterated that service providers could do just about anything in the Mobile Unit.

A media release provided by East Liverpool City Schools also listed non-emergent acute illness care, developmental screenings, adolescent health care, asthma care including inhaler and spacer education, lead and hemoglobin screenings, and referrals for specialty care as services also offered through Akron Children’s Mobile Unit.

The CHMC Mobile Care Unit has also recently made stops in Wellsville, Salineville, The Columbiana Metropolitan Housing Authority, The East Liverpool Community Resource Center, Southern Local Schools and Beaver Local Schools.

Since the CMHC Mobile Care Unit launched in November, the staff has seen 160 patients.

Pecchia said the services are available to anybody, but they do try to work with schools ahead of time to have students registered as patients and special consent forms signed prior to their arrival, but they do also accept walk in patients throughout the day.

Shown are staff the Akron Children’s Mobile Health Care Unit which provided health services to LaCroft Elementary School students on Thursday, from left, Darryl Geary, driver and patient service representative; Savannah Leslie and Deanna Bellville, both nurse practitioners; Benjamin Pecchia, clinical coordinator and Wendy Madison, medical assistant. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

The Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit will be back in East Liverpool at the CMHA Woodlawn Hills, 700 Wilbert Avenue, on April 9 from 10 a.m-4 p.m. The Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit will return to Columbiana County in May for stops at Southern Local Schools on May 6 and Beaver Local Schools on May 13.

Bellville said that the Akron Children’s Mobile Unit is huge for a community because they provide health services to children who do not have an easy time getting to the doctor, and they are sometimes missing their well visits for several years.

“So, bringing the care to them has really taken a load off the parents. They have to work, they have things to do, the kids are at school, so especially on days like today when we go to the schools, we take that transportation issue out of the equation and we are there to just support them however they need help,” Bellville said. “We have a lot of resources through Akron Children’s that we can hook them up with, social references or if they need to see a specialist, we can get them in to see a specialist through Akron Children’s too.”

Pecchia said the staff are grateful for the opportunity to come to places like East Liverpool and make it easier for families and making calling off work and taking a child to the doctors or whatever it might be making one less thing parents have to do.

“Access to the Akron Children’s Mobile care unit is a wonderful opportunity for the students to receive preventative care, immunizations, and treatment for acute illness,” Sarah Porter, school nurse, LaCroft Elementary School said. “By ACH bringing high quality care to the students at school, it helps to eliminate issues such as access to providers and lack of transportation. The district nurses working together with ACH bring the students the care they need to stay healthy and learn.”

LaCroft Elementary School students Gracie Marshall,9, third grade; Luna Smith, 9, fourth grade and Layla Smith, 6, kindergarten, get stickers from Darryl Geary, driver and patient service representative, Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Those who are interested in learning more about the Akron Children’s Mobile Care Unit schedule and future locations can visit: https://www.akronchildrens.org/Ronald-McDonald-House-Care-Mobile.html.

Kgarabrandt@mojonews.com

Benjamin Pecchia, clinical coordinator, prepares to do a throat swab on LaCroft Elementary School third-grade student Gracie Marshall, 9. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)