Touro Nevada Launches First-Of-Its-Kind Mobile Healthcare Clinic to Address Needs of Less Fortunate, Homeless and Veterans of Downtown Las Vegas
Touro University Nevada will further its commitment to the Southern Nevada Community with the launch of a unique mobile healthcare clinic which will serve the homeless in the downtown area and throughout the Las Vegas Valley who cannot otherwise obtain healthcare. The mobile unit will be unveiled and officially launched at a press conference at the Zappos Campus Courtyard on Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 10 a.m.
Established in 2004, Touro University Nevada (Touro) has been deeply invested in the local community, providing a variety of outreach activities to improve the health of Southern Nevadans. A number of the community service and outreach programs are centered in the downtown area providing basic access to healthcare to the escalating at-risk or homeless population. Among those most affected by homelessness in Southern Nevada are children who have never received any medical care, and veterans who have served our country but are now homeless and hurting.
To address these critical needs, Touro has established a mobile healthcare clinic through the private support of donors including Zappos, Findlay RV/Automotive Group, the Junior League of Las Vegas, Color Reflections and Heiser Design. The recreational vehicle, which has been retrofitted into a full mobile healthcare facility, will provide a variety of services including physical examinations, immunizations and wellness checks for children, wound care and more. Students from Touro’s Physician Assistant Studies program, under faculty supervision, will provide all medical services provided in the mobile clinic.
”This mobile healthcare clinic will enable our Touro students to provide health care to our community’s most desperate and underserved,” said Shelley Berkley, CEO and Senior Provost of Touro University Nevada. “The university’s mission is to teach, to lead, and to serve. This project is just the latest example of how we are fulfilling that mission. The people we will help through this mobile clinic are not going on-line to sign up for the Affordable Care Act. For many, this will be the only way to have their medical needs met.”
The unit will help address healthcare concerns for veterans at Veterans Village. In addition, the partnership with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeless Outreach program will allow Touro to go out into some of the more remote downtown areas where the homeless reside.
“Veterans Village is proud to be a partner with the Touro University Nevada School of Physician Assistant Studies new Mobile Medical Outreach Clinic. We will be able to reach out to our United States Veterans and provide badly needed services at a time when this is such a critical issue in our community and throughout the United States”, according to Arnold Stalk PhD, Founder, Veterans Village Las Vegas.
The mobile clinic is an outreach of the Stallman Touro Clinic at The Shade Tree Shelter, which Touro’s Physician Assistant Studies program has operated since 2009. The Stallman Touro Clinic is making a positive impact as a provider of health care to women and children in need. The clinic provides adult health care, preventive health measures, sick call services and women and pediatric services to patients. The new mobile unit will extend these services and make it easier to address the needs of those in dire need in the surrounding community.
“”As an educator I strive to teach my students the importance of community outreach,” said Vicki Chan-Padgett, Director of the Touro School of Physician Assistant Studies. “After working with the residents of The Shade Tree for five years, the students and I saw an opportunity to expand the work we were doing. There are lessons to be learned about providing medical care with compassion, no matter who is being treated or where. If the students take with them that one thought and the homeless know that someone cares, then the whole program will be a success.”
Executive Director Marlene Richter adds, “The Stallman Touro Clinic at The Shade Tree has changed the lives of thousands of women and children in the past five years. This mobile clinic will take this amazing gift from our volunteer providers into the community to improve the quality of life for thousands of homeless. It is a compassionate and professional approach to the most fragile members of our region. I am honored to be a part of this project and look forward to this expansion of The Shade Tree’s Stallman Touro Clinic.”
About Touro University Nevada
Touro University Nevada (TUN) is a private, non-profit, Jewish-sponsored institution established to help address critical needs in health care and education and as a resource for community service in the state of Nevada. TUN opened its doors in 2004 and is now home to more than 1,300 students, in a wide variety of degree programs including osteopathic medicine, physician assistant studies, education, nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy. The university’s Henderson campus includes a multi-specialty health center and a multi-disciplinary Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. For more information on TUN, please visit www.tun.touro.edu or call 702- 777-8687.
About The Shade Tree
For 25 years The Shade Tree, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has been dedicated to improving the lives of women, children and their pets affected by domestic violence and crisis in the Las Vegas valley. As the only organization with an animal shelter on campus, named Noah’s Animal House, The Shade Tree brings families together with their pets and connects them with assistance and services. The Shade Tree is the largest shelter of its kind in Nevada and is the only 24-hour accessible shelter designed specifically to meet the needs of women and children in Southern Nevada. With 364 permanent beds, The Shade Tree provides over 6,000 women and children safe shelter each year. To learn more about how you can support The Shade Tree, please call (702) 385-0072 or visit www.theshadetree.org. For the latest news and events on The Shade Tree follow them at https://www.facebook.com/TheShadeTreeLV or Twitter @ShadeTreeVEGAS
About Veterans Village
Veteran’s Village is dedicated to the creation of an environment that is home to United States Veterans. This is a unique and innovative approach to holistic and comprehensive housing with support services. For more information, please visit www.veteransvillagelasvegas.org or call 702-222-1680.
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Mandi McCary
702-277-7107
mandi@mmgnv.com
