In early 2023, Virtua Health plans to launch our own mobile unit to reduce health disparities and ensure our community members across Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties have access to life-saving cancer screenings. This new addition to our mobile health fleet will also allow us to improve access to comprehensive health care for at-risk populations as well as bolster prevention and chronic disease management.
Access to preventive screenings and health services remains a barrier for many men and women across the nation and in South Jersey. As a result, opportunities for detecting cancer and other chronic diseases early are often missed and left untreated. It is well established that early detection of cancer through routine screening improves survival.
The Mobile Health and Cancer Screening Unit will be a welcome addition to Virtua’s growing mobile health platform, which currently boasts a grocery store, farmers market, pediatric services, and mobile mammography screening services. Virtua’s current Mobile Mammography and Cancer Screening Unit has been highly impactful, providing free breast screenings to more than 900 women a year. We currently operate this program using a “fee for service” vehicle that is owned and operated by an outside vendor.
By owning and operating our own mobile unit, we will be able to offer more free mammograms, and provide other cancer screenings to both women and men. Additionally, we will be able to deploy this multi-purpose vehicle to respond quickly to any urgent health need or crisis facing our community.
The Mobile Health and Cancer Screening Unit will provide:
– 3D mammography
– Breast exams
– Gynecologic exams
– Pap tests
– Colorectal screenings for men and women
– Prostate exams
Additional community health services provided will include communicable disease testing (such as COVID-19); vaccination drives; screenings for chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension; general health education and prevention services; and rapid response to public health crises.
