The Mobile Medical Office (MMO) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve access to care for underserved members of our community. MMO’s board of directors and staff are united in the belief that health care is a basic human right. MMO operates two community-clinics-on-wheels which visit nine sites in the county on a regular schedule. MMO clinic sites include schools, granges, churches, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. Services are aimed at meeting the needs of the most vulnerable and underserved and at addressing the major health problems of our rural county. Populations they are currently focusing on are: high risk teens, the homeless, economically depressed small towns, intravenous drug users, and immigrant farmworkers. MMO was able to expand its services to the Latino population of the Eel River Valley and now offers bilingual clinics in Ferndale, Loleta, Rio Dell and Fortuna.

Due to the high incidence of diabetes, pre-diabetes and childhood overweight in this population, MMO sought and obtained a grant from the St. Joseph Health System to begin a community health worker program “promatora” to assist with these issues. In mid-July 2007, MMO began to offer monthly Diabetic Education classes in Spanish every first Thursday of the month at the St. Joseph parish in Fortuna, CA and held its first eye screening for diabetic patients at the beginning of August. The Project Director of the Community Health Worker project is also a bilingual therapist so MMO will be able to offer some degree of mental health counseling to our Spanish-speaking patients. Mental Health therapy is critical and unmet need for this population.

The peer-support group in Spanish brings together diabetics, their family members and members of the community affected by or at risk for diabetes. The group offers a space to learn and share ways to live a healthier life, such as the benefits of eating a healthier diet, how to keep physically active and much more. At the monthly support group, MMO distributes glucose-strips to the low-income Latinos. The glucose strips, provided from a grant from the Mel and Grace McLean Foundation, allow the diabetics to regularly test and monitor their glucose levels. By combining the educational classes with tools to monitor their glucose, the participants can make changes in their diet and activity levels to better regulate their blood sugar. In addition, MMO will be adding a Youth Activity Director to help promote active, healthy lifestyles for Latino youth.