Are you trying to help your remote community get access to healthcare?
Or, are you looking for a way to provide safe transportation for patients without calling an ambulance?
Are you an outreach program providing services such as mobile health, housing, or mental health and addictions counseling?
Then a mobile medical van could be right for you. There are 4 types of mobile medical vans at MoveMobility: the Mobile Outreach Van, the Mobile Response Van, the Mobile Clinic Van, and the Mobile Mitigation Van.
How do you know which mobile medical van is right for you?
Well, in this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the four types of mobile medical vans, from what each van does, to how you can use it, to who it’s right for.
Types of mobile medical vans: the Mobile Outreach Van
What is it?
The MO Model van is a mobile outreach van that provides transportation and a safe on-site workspace.
Designed for traveling street outreach teams, you can transport staff and clients, as well as provide services in any location with a mobile office space.
Mobile Outreach Vans can help your outreach program meet its goals by:
- Coming to people who are not able to travel for medical attention
- Going to people in remote areas who do not have means of transportation to access health services
- Bridging the gap between healthcare providers and those who need healthcare the most–building trust so that patients will seek out the help they need
How can you use it?
Mobile Outreach Vans become a familiar presence in the communities they’re in. They sit in grocery store parking lots or near festivals–places easily caught by the eye.
Eventually, they’re not only a familiar presence in the community, but part of it. Fear and mistrust of medical professionals slowly begins to fade, and eventually, the people who need help the most become more likely to seek it out.
Mobile Outreach Vans also provide the opportunity to reach more people in need. Instead of focusing all outreach efforts on those who go to drop-in services consistently, vans allow outreach services to connect with those who don’t go to these centers.
As a result, many outreach services travel through different neighborhoods instead of permanently stationing in one location. That way, they can help many individuals at once.
Who uses it?
We recommend Mobile Outreach Vans for programs involved with one or more of the following services:
- Housing
- Mobile health
- Harm reduction
- Referral services
- Overdose prevention
- Mental health and addictions counseling
You can use a Mobile Outreach Van to distribute food, clothing, and water to communities experiencing poverty or a natural disaster, such as a tornado.
We also recommend a Mobile Outreach Van for those living in remote Indigenous communities, where healthcare services experience extreme delays.
Now that you understand what a Mobile Outreach Van is, you may be wondering what a Mobile Response Van is.
Read on to find out.
Types of mobile medical vans: the Mobile Response Van
What is it?
The Mobile Response Van (MR Model) is a non-emergency mobile medical van equipped with aluminum cabinetry, stretcher access, and advanced storage systems similar to an ambulance.
The MR Model’s medical van layouts provide a mobile treatment space and transportation in one van.
While similar to an ambulance, a Mobile Response Van is not an ambulance.
You cannot use the Mobile Response Van to transport unstable patients due to the lack of life support devices and critical care equipment in the van.
How can you use it?
You will likely use the Mobile Response Van as an ambulance alternative to transport patients and medically respond to non-urgent medical needs.
That being said, you can use it in many different situations.
You can even use your Mobile Response Van as an urgent care clinic.
Urgent care clinics help people in immediate need of medical services while reducing traffic to overrun emergency rooms.
Another way to utilize a Mobile Response Van is to use it as a mobile medical treatment center on remote job sites to help treat injured workers prior to formal emergency response.
Who uses it?
We recommend the MR Model for many different organizations, including:
- Indigenous communities
- Housing societies
- Homeless and addictions programs
- Non-EMS/patient transfer services
- Industrial safety providers
Now that you know what a Mobile Response Van is, you may be wondering what a Mobile Clinic Van is.
Read on to find out.
Types of mobile medical vans: the Mobile Clinic Van
What is it?
The MC Model van is a mobile medical clinic used to bring healthcare directly to clients.
Often seen as a “doctor’s office on wheels”, these mobile medical vans provide a private treatment space for personal health services.
How can you use it?
You can use Mobile Clinic Vans to bring health services to patients who cannot access a health center or hospital. They help to reduce health disparities.
A person may not be able to access a health center for many reasons. These include:
- Mobility issues
- Lack of transportation
- Remote location
- Financial restraints
- Language barriers
- Wait times
A person who cannot get primary healthcare is more likely to suffer from undiagnosed health conditions.
This leads to late diagnoses and more advanced health issues in patients. Treating advanced yet preventable health conditions is costly for the healthcare system.
You can use a mobile medical van to not only provide basic healthcare, but also personal services such as:
- Addictions treatment
- Mental health counseling
- Outreach services to homeless and vulnerable populations
- Foot care
- Home care nursing
- Sexual health programs
- Vaccinations
Who uses it?
Many different communities, organizations, and program use Mobile Clinic Vans, including:
- Addictions services
- Industrial safety companies
- Housing and homeless societies
- First Nations and Indigenous communities
Now that you know what a Mobile Clinic Van is, you may be wondering how a Mobile Overdose Prevention Van is different. Read on to find out.
Types of mobile medical vans: the Mobile Overdose Prevention Van
What is it?
An Overdose Prevention Van (also called the Mobile Mitigation Van or MM Model at MoveMobility) is a mobile medical van setup that offers supervised consumption services.
It is a safe space where a medical professional or social worker staff can monitor clients using substances and respond to medical needs as they arise.
People using substances can come in and do what they need to in a clean, sterile, and safe environment, away from parks, playgrounds, and other public spaces.
An Overdose Prevention Van provides sterile injection equipment which can:
- Promote safe injecting practices
- Reduce needle sharing
- Prevent transmission of viruses and infections
- Prevent overdoses
How can you use it?
Overdose prevention vans can be used by outreach organizations, mobile overdose prevention programs, and harm reduction programs in many different ways, but the most common is to use them as a supervised consumption site.
Supervised consumption sites “help to save lives, connect people to social services and serve as pathways to treatment” according to the Government of Canada website.
But what does this actually look like?
Well, a person will bring their drug to an overdose prevention van to consume.
The drug is injected, snorted, inhaled, or consumed as pills and trained staff (either nursing staff, social workers, or peer and community workers) will monitor the person and be available to provide medical help if there is an accidental overdose.
Who uses it?
Overdose Prevention Vans are used by outreach programs, mobile overdose prevention programs, and harm reduction programs.
Your next steps to choosing between the 4 types of mobile medical vans
You came to this article to learn everything you need to know about the 4 types of mobile medical vans: the Mobile Outreach Van, the Mobile Response Van, and the Mobile Clinic Van.
Now, you know what each van does, how you can use it, and who can use it effectively.
Do you know which mobile medical van is right for you? Get a quote from a MoveMobility expert today.
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