unity in:

Expanding mobile health in Atlanta and rural Georgia

FACULTY MEMBER

Quyen Phan 03MSN, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, assistant clinical professor

PARTNERS/COMMUNITY

Georgia Ellenton Farmworker Health Clinic, Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, Boat People SOS, and Atlanta’s Mexican Consulate

For many people, access to health care is minimal or nonexistent. Emory In MOTION will help change that by providing mobile health services in nine Georgia counties. Mobile health units will be equipped to provide nurse-led health care in partnership with community agencies. Emory nursing students will also benefit as they learn to provide culturally sensitive clinical care.

On Wednesdays, the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition (AHRC) mobile van heads to a public park, a store parking lot, or another location to provide needle exchanges, Narcan, fentanyl test kits, health education, and HIV and hepatitis C testing.

Along for the ride is a nurse-led team of Emory BSN students who provide health screenings, health care, wound care, and telehealth services for the people served by AHRC, an organization that works to reduce the impact of substance use, HIV/AIDS, and other conditions.

The students are among the first to participate in Emory In MOTION, a mobile health training program funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The project will help expand health care access and culturally aligned care in Atlanta and rural Georgia and provide learning opportunities for pre- and post-licensure students.

In South Georgia, Emory In MOTION is working with the Georgia Ellenton Farmworker Health Clinic, a longtime School of Nursing partner near Moultrie, to purchase and staff a nurseled mobile van that operates year-round. The van will also provide services at the school’s successful Farmworker Family Health Program, offered two weeks every summer. A nurse practitioner, supported by HRSA funding, will oversee the expanded mobile health services and precept Emory nursing students.

In Atlanta, a new family nurse practitioner will oversee students and expand mobile health services for AHRC. Another family nurse practitioner will guide students on a mobile health team with Boat People SOS. Nurse practitioners and students will work with the Mexican Consulate to provide mobile health care for the area’s Hispanic population.

One of the largest Health Resources and Services Administration grants in the history of the school, Emory in Motion also includes funding to support 10 mobile health student scholars annually. — Pam Auchmutey