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The brightly colored blue and gold Mobile Flashes Wellness Unit from �鶹ӰԺ’s College of Public Health will be hitting the streets to help bring public health services to the people of northeast Ohio.

The new SUV, made possible by a grant from the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation, was officially unveiled on Thursday, April 4, at Moulton Hall, during an event at the College of Public Health.  

During the 2023 Fall Semester, the college received a $200,000 grant from the Prentiss Foundation to help offer free services to isolated rural communities and underserved neighborhoods of Northeast Ohio through a mobile wellness unit.  

Mary Smith, a trustee for the foundation, said she was thrilled to see the grant process come to fruition so successfully.

“I couldn’t be more delighted for all of Northeast Ohio,” Smith said. She praised Sonia Alemagno, dean of the public health college, and her team for their “imagination and ambition for putting this together for our region.”

Alemagno thanked the many community partners for their support in making the Mobile Flashes program a reality, including the �鶹ӰԺ City Health Department and the Portage County Combined General Health District.

“We’re very fortunate to have you working with us,” she said.

�鶹ӰԺ State President Todd Diacon spoke at the event about the value of public health and public health education. He asked the audience to consider where they were four years ago, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“So, when we think about what we were all going through four years ago today, we understand the importance of public health. And we when we think about what was going on four years ago right now, we think about the power of public health,” Diacon said. “When I think about what was going on four years ago and what has happened since then, I think about how public health and its power will not continue if we don’t have students and if we aren’t able to train those students effectively so that they can continue on with that very important work.”

Valoree Vargo, �鶹ӰԺ State’s vice president for Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, thanked the Prentiss Foundation.  

“The foundation has supported �鶹ӰԺ State with numerous philanthropic gifts,” she said. “These contributions support our academic programs which provide the training to our students which represent the next generation of professionals to improve the overall health of our communities. This mobile wellness unit will change lives and elevate the availability of healthcare throughout our entire region.”

Despite driving rain, President Diacon, Smith and Joseph Diorio, commissioner of the Portage County Combined General Health District, stepped outside to unveil the new vehicle that puts the mobile in Mobile Flashes. The SUV will transport students, faculty and staff as they provide public health services throughout the region.  

Alemagno noted how the unit already has been on the scene of health fairs, vaccination clinics and other events with students helping to bring healthcare services to the community and gaining valuable training.

Two students who are participating in the Mobile Flashes program also spoke at the unveiling.

Christian Richardson, a first-year doctoral student, said Mobile Flashes is jumpstarting his goal of being more hands-on in the community to help improve the kinds of health issues that he studies.

“There is nothing better than getting out in the community and continuing to improve these issues with first-hand experiences,” he said.  

Grace Czerwony, a junior public health major, said she was excited to be part of the Mobile Flashes program and noted how the team already has taken part in health events throughout the community, including a community heart health screening in which 65 to 70 older adults took part.

“It was most rewarding for me because I was able to connect with older adults who have been hesitant to participate in the past,” she said.

Mobile Flashes will offer a wide variety of community-based services, including screenings for body mass index, diabetes, cancer risk, occupational risk, chronic disease and blood pressure checks, COVID-19, and flu vaccine clinics, as well as health education, health and wellness counseling, referrals to social services and healthcare, and help facilitate self-referrals for mental health and substance abuse services.

The Mobile Flashes program also further expands the Interprofessional Education in Healthcare program, by enriching students’ education with real-life patient interaction and community health services.

The Mobile Flashes wellness unit will attend health fairs and events at hospital systems, health departments, social services agencies, senior centers, schools, and more, serving the isolated rural communities and urban underserved neighborhoods of Portage, Summit, Stark, Trumbull, and Cuyahoga counties.  

The unveiling event also coincided with the college’s annual career fair. Both events were part of National Public Health Week, which the college is celebrating April 1-7.

Learn more about Mobile Flashes.