AHN, Highmark, and Brother's Brother Foundation team up to provide care to those in need | KD Sunday Spotlight
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On the North Side of Pittsburgh, a new car is ready to hit our streets. It's a van worth celebrating because it's much more than a way to get around.
It's a clinic on wheels bringing healthcare to every area of the community.
"We know 80% of health happens outside the office and definitely outside the hospital," said Dr. Amy Crawford Faucher with Allegheny Health Network. "It's helpful to have a small-ish mobile van because actually, it helps us navigate the streets of Pittsburgh much more directly than some of the bigger ones we've seen in the past."
This mobile clinic is meant for Pittsburgh and most importantly, it's meant for all our community.
"It's tough, there are a lot of barriers to getting care," Dr. Faucher said. "A lot of barriers. Anything that we can do to help ease that and help make that connection can help some of the significant health disparities in some of our Pittsburgh communities."
This mobile clinic focuses on providing primary care to all for free. Thanks to AHN, Highmark, and the non-profit Brother's Brother Foundation.
"We can go to where people are for vaccines, for eye checks, for blood pressure checks. It helps to build that really important bond," said Faucher.
It's the latest flexible and creative idea born out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is not the first project Brother's Brother Foundation has tackled.
"We're in the North Side of Pittsburgh and you don't have to go too far from here to see the needs of people on the streets who are obviously in need," said the President of Brother's Brother Foundation, Ozzy Samad. "We really wanted to have an impact on our own community."
Since 1958 the non-profit has grown to provide medical supplies global disaster relief teacher training and they even helped during the train derailment in East Palestine, but Samad says the mobile clinics in Pittsburgh are something no one else was doing here.
"That one to me is key because if you think about it as our parents get older, sometimes it's difficult to get out," Samad said.
There's no need to get out far when the vans come to you. The first mobile clinic is used for vision and diabetes screenings. That mobile vision van actually went to a homeless encampment under one of the bridges in the city.
Now this non-profit's dedication to health is building bridges between companies, doctors, and people living healthy lives.
"Oftentimes what ends up happening is people just don't go in the first place," said Samad.
It's interrupting a compounding health issue, thanks to the care of the non-profit and our community.
"There's nothing that we could do if not for the support of your viewers and people in the community who feel for others in the community," Samad said.
The mobile primary care clinic will be at the March of Dimes event this weekend, April 14th.
It also has several events scheduled throughout the spring and summer and it's planning to help provide vaccines at a couple of school districts.
The next step for Brother's Brother Foundation is to get a third mobile van in Pittsburgh, possibly battery-powered, for a quiet space to provide hearing tests and help with hearing loss.
To connect or donate with the Brother's Brother Foundation you can visit their website.
If you would like to see an organization highlighted in KDKA's Sunday Spotlight segment, send Megan Shinn an email at mshinn@kdka.com!