SAN ANGELO, Texas — La Esperanza Clinics have provided care for patients in the Concho Valley for more than 25 years. This month, the organization opened a mobile unit that will give people living in small communities the opportunity to get their COVID-19 vaccine, as well as flu shots and other medical care.
The mobile unit will be on the road to rural areas around San Angelo, distributing both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines soon.
“We cover so many counties, but we can't go out there and build a clinic in every one of those counties. However, a mobile clinic will afford us the ability to go to these places and help folks that are and maybe they have a hard time getting into San Angelo to get healthcare,” La Esperanza CEO Dean Munn said.
People living in rural areas have a difficult time accessing healthcare services for a variety of reasons. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said mobile vaccinations are one way to reach people who can't get them because of traveling distance, limited access to medical providers or vaccine clinics, lack of public transportation, mobility issues, and work and family care schedules.
La Esperanza continues providing resources to improve accessibility to specific populations.
"We're trying to fill a gap where their gap exists in our service area as far as low-income people go. We're only catching about 2% of the folks that really do need access to affordable quality health care. We want to provide, and we want to do it and remove barriers,” Munn said.
He also said the new mobile unit will help get as many people as they can vaccinated.
The mobile unit will be administering vaccine each Tuesday in October, beginning Oct. 5 in Bronte. The clinic will be in Miles Oct. 12; Robert Lee Oct. 19; and in Mertzon Oct. 26.
