Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine students provided screenings to the Greenwood community on Thursday. At no cost, the clinic offered blood pressure, glucose and STD screenings.
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine students provided screenings to the Greenwood community on Thursday. At no cost, the clinic offered blood pressure, glucose and STD screenings.
KELLY DUNCAN | INDEX-JOURNAL
Greenwood native and Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine student Cal Brock checks a patient’s glucose levels during the mobile clinic.
Education is key, especially when it comes to our health. And through the MOSAIC — Mobile STD Assessment and Information Center — grant from the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare, a mobile clinic is making its way across different counties to do free screenings for the community, placing emphasis on those in underserved populations.
Spartanburg’s branch of Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine received the grant through DHEC and brought the mobile clinic to Greenwood on Thursday to offer free blood pressure, glucose, and sexually transmitted disease screenings.
“A lot of people don’t have insurance or they don’t have regular doctors to go to so we’re just trying to reach them so they can get screened and get the resources they need,” said Yolanda Patterson, DHEC Community Clinic Operations coordinator for the Upstate region.
Patterson said they try to do these events two to three times a month and aim to come back to Greenwood in September or October.
Greenwood native and medical student Cal Brock said hosting the free mobile clinic is just another way to serve the community he grew up in.
“Luckily, we’ve been able to get things like this bus or partnerships with different free clinics all around the upstate of South Carolina in order to serve these rural areas. People who are having different issues or whatever is going on with their lives, it actually means a lot for us to come help them. At the end of the day, we’re in medicine to help people and ultimately how do we help them? We serve them and their needs,” he said.
Brock plans to continue his medical education at Edward Via College and become a physician in rural South Carolina.
“I think it’s very humbling to come and serve people in the community that I’m from and in South Carolina. It’s fascinating and humbling to see all the work we’re doing here in the state, especially when it comes to rural health and I look forward to continuing that in my future,” he said.
Tammy Lyons, DHEC field operations manager for the disease intervention specialist in the Upstate, said they became involved after seeing an increase in syphilis infections in the region. She said they have seen almost a 50% increase from 2020-21 in infections.
“We wanted to use the mobile unit to reach the hard-to-reach population. They may be people who are meth users or people that live in rural communities and this unit has really helped out in our rural areas,” she said. “Our main purpose is people living in healthy communities. It’s only helping the community to live healthy lives and that is our goal.”
Contact Kelly Duncan at 864-943-5648 or on Twitter @KellyWriter1993.
