The University of Tennessee at Martin, in conjunction with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the University of Tennessee Southern, is the recipient of one of three mobile health units hitting the road as a part of the University of Tennessee System Grand Challenge Grant.
According to the UT System website, the Grand Challenge Grant Program is an investment made by the UT System to fund transformative projects that improve the quality of life for Tennesseans. These grants support solutions in three areas: strengthening rural communities, overcoming addiction and advancing K-12 education.
The mobile health units are wrapped in eye-catching “One UT System” branding. Written on the side is “On the road to a healthier Tennessee” in bold lettering, which describes the mission of this grant.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, the state is ranked 44th in the nation for health care, with rural residents experiencing greater impacts than their urban counterparts. In combination with health-care workforce shortages, remote rural areas often experience a lack of accessible health care. Through this investment in the future of Tennessee health care, the UT System hopes to provide outreach, education and training for Tennessee communities and health-care workers.
Dr. Mary Radford, chair of the UT Martin Department of Nursing, has worked to coordinate this grant and target the specific counties in need of the most help in this region of Tennessee.
“We used data from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] to identify the counties in each of our respective regions that were most in need of our services,” she said. “Basically, the ones that had the worst health-care statistics in our area are Lake County and Carroll County.”
Over the past nine months, the UT Martin department of nursing has worked with county health councils and community organizations to identify the specific needs and priorities of each county.
“For instance, Carroll County and Lake County have both identified mental health, substance use and weight-management issues,” Radford said. “We go out into these communities and we provide education, screenings and healthy giveaways with the hope of leading community members towards a healthier lifestyle.”
Often, these communities have been offered help, but there are significant gaps in the actions taken. Specifically, access is a major issue. In these situations, the mobile health unit has the advantage of being able to go directly to the source of the disparity.
The mobile health unit will be used as a teaching tool for the nursing department as well.
“We are able to involve our students in this,” Radford said. “It’s a great opportunity for the nursing students to not only practice their skills, but to interact with the community and to see that part of nursing care that is often overlooked. Being out in the community and providing for our rural areas in Tennessee is so important.”
This collaborative grant will allow the UT System universities to work together and develop impactful strategies to better assist underserved rural communities in Tennessee. Once this grant ends, UT Martin will be able to keep the mobile health unit and continue to serve our local communities.
For more information about this UT Martin Department of Nursing, visit www.utm.edu/nursing. For more information about UT Martin, visit www.utm.edu or call 1-800-829-UTM1 (-8861).
PHOTO: Posing with the new mobile health unit are UT Martin Level 1 sophomore nursing students (front row, l-r) Carson Wills of Bradford, Madison Doyle of Saulsbury, Blaise Barr of Brighton, (back row, l-r) Ally McCartney of Bradford and Ashtyn Gillespie of Eads and Dr. Mary Radford (in the front seat), chair of the UT Martin Department of Nursing. The mobile health unit will provide outreach, education and training for Tennessee communities and health-care workers and be a teaching tool for nursing students.
