The UA’s Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health has Primary Prevention Mobile Health Units that have been administering vaccine and doing preventive health screenings in rural & underserved Arizona communities in partnership with local health departments and organizations.
The mobile health units have served Arizona communities since 2016 and maintain close relationships with local communities. They’re currently collaborating with Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Maricopa County health departments, Sunlife, and Chicanos por la Causa to distribute COVID-19 vaccine and are enthusiastic to expand partnerships to additional local health departments, FQHCs, other community based organizations.
Their teams are flexible, bilingual, and driven by local health department and community priorities. The units can arrive at a site anytime – e.g. early in the morning, weekends, evenings. Team members are trained to address vaccine hesitancy by tailoring conversations to address individual concerns.
The Team collaborates with health department and community partners to host mobile vaccine events in farming communities, senior housing complexes, community centers, schools, long-term care facilities, and other locations.
The teams are comprised of health sciences staff, students and volunteers with faculty oversight. Many staff, students and volunteers have strong ties to rural communities and are eager to work in partnership with their local health departments to expand vaccine access throughout rural Arizona.
There’s no cost to the county health department. This is a major win for health departments in the continued critical effort to get our most vulnerable vaccinated!
If your health department has not already, contact Dr. Cecilia Rosales at crosales@arizona.edu and her team will work with you to get the mobile health units out to your county quickly!
