Health on wheels: New van providing free medical care to rural poor

Tonya Rushing stands outside in a biting wind, her hand cupped over an ear that’s been killing her for four days. She could go hang out at the trailer where she lives south of Colorado Springs, but she doesn’t want to miss her turn to step into the 27-foot-long Econoline van parked in front of the office at the mobile home park.

Inside the van are physician’s assistant Greg Morris and medical assistant Doni Samson, both employees of Peak Vista Community Health Centers. This is Rushing’s one chance this week to get medical care — not only for her ear but also for hepatitis C.

She was diagnosed with the disease in 2005, and she’s supposed to get blood work done every six months. Uninsured, underemployed and lacking transportation to get into town to see a doctor, Rushing had gone two years without a blood workup before the van service started a few months ago.

“Thank God for this,” she said.

A lot of low- and middle-income people living in rural El Paso County apparently feel the same way about the Bridging the Gaps Homeless Medical Outreach van service, run in a partnership between Peak Vista and Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs.

Since launching the service in January, Morris and Samson have provided free care and medications to about 100 patients.

And that’s just with two stops each week, one at Cheyenne Mountain Estates mobile home park, where Rushing lives, and another at a trailer park outside of Ellicott. Signs at the parks announcing the van’s arrival, as well as word of mouth, have added patients quickly.

“The flow has been more than I expected right from the get-go,” said Morris, who plans to eventually add more rural stops. “For the first quarter, we were expecting maybe between 25 and 30 people.”

The patient load speaks to the need for free medical services in the unincorporated areas mostly south and east of the Colorado Springs city limits, where many people live at or near the federal poverty level and few health-care providers are nearby to serve them.

Like Rushing, many don’t have medical insurance or a way to get into town to see a doctor. Or if they do have a vehicle, they can’t afford the gas to make the trip into town.

Even a $7 co-pay is too much of a financial burden for many people, and they’ll wait until things get so bad that they end up trekking to the emergency room, Morris said.

He knew there was a need for mobile medical service in rural areas. As an employee of Peak Vista for 16 years, director of its Homeless Medical Clinic program for six years, and a member of the Health Clinicians Network of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, he’s well-versed in rural poverty and homelessness and had been hoping to start some kind of medical service for residents of outlying areas.

But Morris was doing most of his work in the confines of a building, at Peak Vista’s Homeless Medical Clinic. Twice a week, however, he and Samson would hop on an old bus that had been converted into a small medical clinic and drive it a few blocks away to the Salvation Army soup truck, where the poor and homeless would get food.

It was the impetus for the rural outreach program, but Morris knew he’d need a nicer vehicle.

“We were at a crossroads. It was imperative I have a new van to use — not some renovated tour bus.”

So last year, Peak Vista applied for a piece of a new $961,000 federal grant that El Paso County received to address rural needs. An advisory board liked the mobile van idea; so did county commissioners.

“Up until this point, all people, to get these services, would have to travel 20, 30 miles. Peak Vista got creative with it; they’re bringing the medicine to them,” said Tiffany Colvert, community development specialist for El Paso County. “I think that’s what the advisory board and commissioners liked. They really thought outside the box.”

The project got a $92,000 grant, which was used to purchase and equip the van. Like any doctor’s office, it has an exam table, sinks, medical equipment — almost everything Morris and Samson need.

“Our old van didn’t have near all this stuff,” said Samson.

If someone needs a prescription but can’t pick it up, they’ll deliver the medicine on their next trip.

“I can offer everything I can offer through here,” Morris said from his office on Rio Grande.

And that includes his affable, laid-back approach to dealing with patients.

“The kids love him. So do all the patients,” Samson said.

Several people waiting to see Morris at Cheyenne Mountain Estates said they appreciate that he takes the time to listen to them and doesn’t rush them. It needs to be that way, he said.

“You don’t run 'em through like cattle," he said. "These are people who run into barriers everywhere they go.”

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For more information on the Bridging the Gaps Homeless Medical Outreach van, call 719-344-6133.