MOBILE CLINIC GETS SET TO ROLL; PROPOSED MOBILE CLINIC PLANS TO BREAK TRANSPORTATION BARRIER.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

The Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation has its wheels in motion to roll out a mobile clinic for medical outreach services, waiting only on a special license from the state.

The foundation's 37-foot motor home has been furnished with medical equipment and exam rooms to deliver preventive and primary care to residents with limited access to medical services. Four area health care agencies have agreed to staff the mobile unit with the necessary health care professionals, according to hospital spokeswoman Janice Newbold.

The foundation's licensing application to the state Department of Health Services was filed in July. The mobile clinic plan and schedule would undergo on-site reviews by Los Angeles County health agents in mid-October, said foundation President Lisa Foust, adding she is hopeful for its approval soon afterward.

``This (proposed mobile clinic) addresses a major concern that we found most area medical agencies had, when we surveyed them about providing health care to the underserved, as well as the underinsured,'' said Foust. ``Every agency told us that transportation was one of the most significant barriers that stood in the way of them getting health care.''

One agency to donate services to the mobile clinic, the Samuel Dixon Family Health Center, would park two days each week outside the city Community Center in Newhall to offer medical screenings and primary health care.

The Foundation for Children's Dental Health would visit alternating elementary schools throughout the Santa Clarita Valley two days each week. The Northeast Valley Health Corp. and the Valencia Health Clinic, based at the Valencia Town Center, would staff the mobile unit at various locations on other days.

The Henry Mayo Health Foundation would manage the vehicle's maintenance and schedules, officials said.

Medical services would be provided to all visitors, but fees would be charged on sliding scales based on a patient's available medical insurance and income, said Foust, adding that qualifying patients may be charged no fee at all.

While the hospital has offered medical screenings and vaccination clinics in the past, the mobile clinic would be its most extensive and far-reaching medical outreach program, Newbold said, noting that it would bring bring care to area residents of varying ages and levels if income.

School physicals, adult physicals, exams for healthy and sick babies, immunizations, and women's health care and screenings are among the clinic's planned programs.

The mobile unit's on-board facilities also are equipped to provide dental examinations and X-rays for children, plus flouride treatments, teeth cleanings, fillings and extractions, Newbold said.

Foust said another major goal of the mobile clinic program would be to educate the public on ways to obtain affordable health insurance through state and other agencies.

Hospital officials credited a timely donation with making the mobile clinic program possible, as the biggest start-up obstacle had been the initial purchase of a motor home.

Two years ago, the 37-foot unit, a 1993 Elante motor home, was donated to the Health Foundation by Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital's former director of the behavioral unit, Dr. Howard F. Detwiler, and his mother, Dorothy.

Detwiler had used the motor home to conduct psychiatric evaluations.

Once the mobile clinic receives its license, the next challenge would be sustaining program funds into the future, as annual operating costs are estimated to run about $70,000 per year, according to Foust.

For its first year of operation, the foundation has secured a $72,000 grant from the state's Rural Health Demonstration Project, Foust said.

``It will become an ongoing focus of the foundation to go out and obtain corporate grants and raise funds for the mobile clinic,'' she said.

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Photo: (color) Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital Director of Education Glenda Layton and foundation president Lisa Foust look over the policy manual for a proposed clinic on wheels aboard a 37-foot motor home. Four area health care agencies would staff the mobile clinic.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer