Many Rio Grande Valley residents face a landscape of obstacles preventing them from reaching vital health services—from a shortage of medical professionals to language barriers, limited finances, and transportation difficulties. For more than 35 years, the UTHealth Houston Mobile Health Clinic has been rolling out to help them, but the program faced its own hurdles.
The van housing the clinic is nearing the end of its life expectancy and needs costly maintenance and repairs. Replacing broken and worn parts on the van grows increasingly expensive, endangering the program’s ability to reach the people who depend on it for their only health care. Thanks to generous donors like the Nancy and Clive Runnells Foundation, the clinic will soon travel in a new, state-of-the-art vehicle, enabling it to not only keep running but to help even more people—for many years to come.
The mobile clinic has been a lifeline for families in the Brownsville-Harlingen area of Cameron County, Texas, where many people live in extreme poverty and experience high rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Each year, the clinic rotates between four locations, parking mostly in front of schools to deliver health services to children there. The clinic’s on-site physician’s assistant and medical assistant provide immunizations, physical exams, and medical testing and treatments for adults and children. When needed, this highly trained staff consults with internal medicine and pediatric specialists at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston via telemedicine, enabling patients to access expert care directly.
David D. McPherson, MD, holder of the James T. and Nancy B. Willerson Chair and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at McGovern Medical School, spearheaded a fundraising campaign for a new vehicle, and the Runnells Foundation answered the call.
“I was just so impressed with this program,” said Kathy Smyth, Runnells Foundation President and wife of the late Clive Runnells. “The people who work in the clinic are incredibly dedicated to helping patients and serving this community.”
The custom vehicle—which is currently being ordered and will take 18 months to build—will provide more physical space for patients. Currently, patients must wait in their cars before being seen, but the new van will have a waiting area and a second exam room. This will enable the program to grow from serving 1,400 patients annually to approximately 2,100. Staffing will increase to match, adding a second medical assistant.
“This is a high-impact project,” said John Pitts, vice president of the Runnells Foundation and UTHealth Houston Development Board Member. “The mobile clinic has a profound effect on
people’s lives throughout the region and also provides important training opportunities for McGovern Medical School students.”
Fourth-year students can participate in monthlong clinical rotations, allowing them to grow their multicultural health skills and gain valuable experience helping underserved patients. In addition, the clinic collaborates with UTHealth Houston School of Public Health to participate in the nation’s largest Hispanic health research project.
“The Foundation was struck by the level of thought and planning that has gone into the design of the new vehicle, which will be much more efficient,” said Jeff Firestone, treasurer of the Runnells Foundation and UTHealth Houston Development Board Member. The current clinic is an RV-style van, so the motor is constantly in use when it rolls out several times a year. The new clinic will be a trailer hitched to a truck, lowering the expense of engine maintenance and enlarging the space for patient care.
The Runnells Foundation has been a longstanding supporter of the university. Kathy said she and Clive shared a commitment to helping others. “We were both brought up to believe that you should always appreciate what you have, and if you have more than you need, you need to think of others.”
This project is a natural fit for the Foundation, as Clive had a home in South Texas. “The people of the Rio Grande Valley were very important to him,” Kathy said. “He would be smiling right now.”