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April 4, 2016
Nurse Practitioner Rebecca Lawhon says the CareVan has a Class D pharmacy on board, which includes antibiotics and vitamins for patients.
Dayna Mazzei Worchel for South Texas Catholic
Relief mixed with gratitude.
These are the most common and overwhelming feelings in the hearts of the people who come to the Christus Spohn Health System’s mobile CareVan for their health and obstetrical care, CareVan staff said. The CareVan, which operates Monday through Thursday, offers free medical care to uninsured and under-insured patients in under-served areas of the Coastal Bend.
For Victoria Garza, who lives in the community of Taft, a small town of about 3,000 on Highway 181 North, about 22 miles from Corpus Christi, it has been a Godsend. She is pregnant with her fourth child, a girl, due in June, and she lives and works in Taft. Without the CareVan, Garza would have to spend much of her day traveling to and from Corpus Christi for medical appointments, arranging for a babysitter for her older children and taking time off from work to receive her prenatal care.
Patient Victoria Garza, whose baby girl is due in June, uses the services of the CareVan in Taft because she says it would be time consuming to make a round trip to Corpus Christi and she would have to make arrangements to care for younger children and be away from work.
Dayna Mazzei Worchel for South Texas Catholic
“This is so much closer and a lot less stressful for me,” Garza, who does have health insurance, said.
She came to the CareVan for two of her previous pregnancies, and said the staff has always been friendly and helpful.
“I would recommend it for anyone,” Garza said of the service.
Once a patient has reached the seventh month of her pregnancy, Lawhon refers her to a physician.
The services that CareVan provides is a component of the healing ministry of Jesus Christ, which the Christus Spohn Health System is called to serve, Marjorie Chavez, director of Mission Services/Community Health & Wellness for Christus Spohn said.
“The CareVan is one piece of that ministry. It’s a beautiful example of living that out when responding to people in need, one patient at a time,” Chavez said.
Chavez spoke of Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis of France, who served as the first bishop of Texas in 1866. As he traveled through the state on horseback, he saw great suffering, disease and poverty. He wrote a letter to his friend Mother Angelique, Superior of the Monastery of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyons.
Marjorie Chavez, Director of Mission Services/Community & Health Wellness explains the purpose of the CareVan ministry.
Dayna Mazzei Worchel
for South Texas Catholic
In the letter, he said, “Our Lord, Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands.”
From the basis of that ministry, the CareVan program began in 2004 when the Colston family of Riviera donated a used RV to the hospital to provide care for those in need in rural areas. In 2010, American Bank donated the current mobile clinic RV, outfitted with two exam rooms, a waiting area, a pharmacy and much of the medical equipment necessary to perform patient tests, including comprehensive lab work for diabetes, anemia and thyroid conditions.
The pharmacy dispenses antibiotics, vitamins and other medications, but not controlled substances or narcotics, said Rebecca Lawhon, nurse practitioner. She’s a part of a three-person crew, which includes Delmira Torres, a medical assistant who draws blood, and Carlos Ortiz, the driver. Lawhon also provides routine screenings for women, including breast exams and pap smears.
“I have caught breast and cervical cancers. The patients come in scared…when they hear there is no charge to patients, they are very relieved,” she said.
She refers those with cancer to the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services, a state program that is administered through the counties the CareVan serves. The CareVan also partners with several clinics in the area that provide care to patients without insurance who need other types of care besides prenatal care, such as Mission of Mercy, which provides care for those with chronic health conditions.
Lawhon said most patients hear about the CareVan at work or church or from friends within their communities.
“It’s difficult to navigate the healthcare system sometimes. They have to bounce around here and there for lab work. We try to do a lot of that here…drawing blood and giving test results. It’s reassuring and helpful for patients,” Lawhon said.
She also carries diabetic socks, reading glasses and blood pressure cuffs to monitor high blood pressure to patients who need them.
All work on board from Monday to Thursday of each week, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. by appointment. They travel to Sinton, Taft, Mathis, Aransas Pass and Bishop and stop at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church on Waldron Road in Corpus Christi on the third Wednesday of each month.
Lawhon, who has worked on the bus for 12 years, typically sees eight to 12 patients per day and saw 115 during the month of February. The amount typically spent on all women’s health services each month during the four-day week of CareVan operations is $150,000, she said.
On weekends, a second team uses the CareVan to go out into the community to give free flu shots and take blood pressure readings, as well as perform finger-stick blood tests for patients with diabetes and also to test blood lipids, Lawhon said.
The weekend CareVan team goes to homeless shelters and health fairs to help the elderly and veterans and others who are uninsured or under-insured.
Funding for the CareVan comes from the Christus Spohn Health System, and other corporate partners provide medications and equipment, Chavez said.
The most important piece of the equation for the staff that works daily on that mobile clinic vehicle is the personal connections and relationships they form while treating patients. Torres, who has worked three years on the CareVan, said the most rewarding part of all for her, are those relationships.
“It feels good. Many people come in without a social security number. Once we let them in and they know it’s okay, they are so relieved,” Torres said, adding that the patients are so grateful.
“They become like family, bringing us little treats and gifts,” she said.
Ortiz said he enjoys getting to know the patients better.
“The patients will call and ask for all of us. They hear about us through word of mouth,” he said.
