ADA, Ohio (WLIO) - Ohio Northern University is stepping up to the plate when it comes to providing health care to underserved areas in the region.
Thanks to a $500,000 Ohio capital budget allocation from the state, two new mobile health clinics were unveiled Thursday at ONU's campus through their College of Pharmacy. The two mobile clinics contain exam rooms, multi-purpose rooms for reception, as well as laboratory services and additional patient care. The mobile clinics are in partnership with Mercy Health St. Rita's to help meet community members where they are, to provide critical primary care services for those who don't have access to health care.
Ohio legislators were also present, like Ohio Senate President Rob McCcolley, former state representative Jon Cross, and current state representative Ty Matthews. They were instrumental in allocating the funds to Ohio Northern, and for them, it's a powerful feeling to be part of innovative change in the region.
"It's a sign of ONU being able to kind of adjust with the times and address the needs of the people around them, and it feels great to be some small part of this process," said McColley. "The state was able to help ONU purchase these vehicles so they can begin to spread their their health care mission out across the region. It feels great to be part of that, but they're the ones doing the work. They're the ones who took the step and took the initiative to get that to this point."
For the ONU College of Pharmacy, these new state-of-the-art clinics will benefit both the pharmacy students and their patients in need.
"These trucks are going to come, hopefully, to exactly where you live - we're going to come around to the villages, we're going to come to the different areas that are under served, and you're going to be able to get primary care services," said Stuart Beatty, dean of the ONU Raabe College of Pharmacy. "Our pharmacy students are going to be there to be able to do health screenings, to do blood pressure screenings. We're going to be able to get medications from our pharmacy, you're going to be able to get called from our call center and really comprehensive wraparound services. The whole reason we're getting to those areas is because there aren't other people that are providing that care. So that's where we want to get, and that's why we want to get to those areas. It's great for our students, but it's great for our community. ONU has been a leader in pharmacy for over 140 years, and this is just the next step of what that is. We want our students to go from here and think this is what pharmacy is supposed to be like. This is what care in my community is supposed to be like, and we want them to go provide it."
Beatty says the two mobile health clinics will be hitting the road and put into action next week as they continue to serve the region.
