Far too often, residents of eastern Kentucky living in remote areas cannot travel to get the specialized medical care they need, but a newly funded project for a mobile health clinic hopes to change that by bringing healthcare services out to them.

ARH is excited to announce that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is providing $400,000 in funds for the new ARH Mobile Clinic. The Clinic will help ensure residents can be connected with the care they need right at home.

“Gov. Beshear’s administration is committed to making sure the people of Eastern Kentucky have the resources they need right in their communities,” said Rocky Adkins, senior advisor to Gov. Andy Beshear. “Working with the Appalachian Regional Commission as the 2023 States’ Co-Chair, Gov. Beshear was able to secure record funding for Kentucky. This mobile health clinic is another way in which this administration is making sure Eastern Kentucky has a seat at the table.”

Rocky Massey, ARH Vice President of External Affairs, is delighted with the new project, “The addition of a mobile clinic is yet another example of ARH finding ways to better serve our communities. With this mobile clinic, we can help increase access to care for our patients, and improving access to primary care and diagnostic services ultimately leads to improving health and promoting well-being in eastern KY.  We are most appreciative of the ARC’s funding for this important project.”

Massey said that as the population’s average age in the ARH service area continues to increase, there are many benefits to making routine clinical care available to patients in a home setting.  The mobile unit will bridge the gap between an old-fashioned “house call” and actually making the trip to a traditional brick-and-mortar clinic location.  While each situation is unique, the goal is to provide a similar level of care that a person might receive had they made the trip to the traditional clinic location.  This service could help our aging population continue to live independently, maintain a higher quality of life, and save money from costs associated with higher levels of care like assisted living or nursing facilities.

With this mobile clinic, patients can have increased and more regular access to health screenings by taking the clinic to the patients at local businesses, schools, housing developments, community events, and more. The mobile clinic will allow ARH to provide better access to medical care following an emergency situation or disaster such as a tornado, flooding, winter storm, etc.

During the flooding event that much of ARH’s coverage area experienced in late July of 2022, the need for a mobile clinic unit was obvious and was temporarily met by healthcare partners at Marshall University in Huntington, WV.  While the mobile unit was an effective tool during the crisis, this method of administering care proved there is the need for ARH to regularly reach current and potential patients in a manner most convenient for them. 

“Many lessons were learned during the flood. One of the most significant was that we must still be mindful of the fact that transportation continues to be a barrier for many of those living in the rural and often remote areas served by ARH and that there is a crucial need to make accessing medical care as convenient as possible for this population,” ARH President and CEO Hollie Harris said. “ARH has a long history of meeting those we serve when and where they need it most, and this mobile clinic will help us continue that tradition.”

The mobile clinic will be stationed in Floyd County and serve Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, Morgan, Perry, and Pike counties.

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Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), is a not-for-profit health system operating 14 hospitals in Barbourville, Hazard, Harlan, Hyden, Martin, McDowell, Middlesboro, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, West Liberty, Whitesburg, and South Williamson in Kentucky and Beckley and Hinton in West Virginia, as well as multi-specialty physician practices, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores and retail pharmacies and medical spas. ARH employs approximately 6,700 people with an annual payroll and benefits of $474 million generated into our local economies. ARH also has a network of more than 1,300 providers on staff across its multi-state system. ARH is the largest provider of care and the single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky, and the third-largest private employer in southern West Virginia.