URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

Integrated Health and Innovation. “Our goal was to safely administer services and COVID testing.” With Loberti serving as a coordinator, Blissmer directed the collaboration among the University’s faculty researchers, frontline health care workers, state public health officials, government leaders, and corporate partners like CVS Health and CODAC, a Rhode Island-based behavioral health agency. The unit currently serves as a testing and resource site in two Rhode Island cities hit hardest by the pandemic, Pawtucket and Central Falls. At times, Central Falls possessed the highest COVID-19 rate in Rhode Island and is the state’s most densely populated area, with many residents living in crowded apartments and/or lacking access to health care. “I believe the MHU fills a gap that can assist vulnerable people who probably would not seek care in traditional brick-and-mortar places,” said Loberti. The mobile health unit represents a rarely taken but intrinsically necessary step in the future of health care. “The MHU literally gives us a vehicle for bringing health care to people who need it, when they need it, where they need it,” Blissmer said. “We can reach

There are also plans to reach out to nursing homes and to homeless shelters, to provide COVID-19 resources and testing.

people that might not feel that they have access to health care. While we do not want this to be the only point of care for these people, we can start connecting people to the broader health care system.” There are also plans to reach out to nursing homes and to homeless shelters, to provide COVID-19 resources and testing. Of course, as the pandemic eases, the unit will also continue on its original mission to provide treatment and services to those affected by HIV and by the opioid epidemic. Blissmer expects that the next stage will involve working with CODAC and other behavioral health partners to provide services outside of the general lab operations to individuals in need.

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