GREENSBORO, N.C. — The use of mobile clinics can be helpful to those who don't always have access to quality health care.
Cone Health uses them across the Triad including in Greensboro. The Clinic on Wheels stopped at Freeman Mill Square where WFMY News 2 met a Greensboro man who said it has greatly improved his health.
As a native, Berry Jones has watched the city evolve in good and challenging ways, specifically where he resides near Freeman Mill Square.
"When I was a kid, it was a very self-sufficient African American community but through revitalization that was taken away, we saw the mall come in that moved a lot of businesses away from this community, drugs and violence came in," Jones said.
He feels like the area became a desert for many things like food and access to healthcare.
"I noticed a lack but I noticed an effort to address it," Jones said. "The problem is we don’t have health insurance in this community."
Jones has chronic high blood pressure. At one point in his life, it was considered critical.
"I did not have primary care. If you don’t have it you can’t get a 30-day prescription renewed time after time with chronic disease," said Jones.
In need of help, he was referred to visit Cone Health's mobile clinic which was parked near his home.
"When I came here, my goal was to get a health care provider to write the prescription," said Jones.
He did just that.
"It's a walk-up only," Cone Health Physician Assistant Cari Mayers said, "They may need to have their blood pressure medication bridged until they get to see their doctor or they may not have seen anybody for their health care in several years."
Mayers said scheduling to see a primary doctor can be difficult due to an influx of patients.
"We do get to spend more time with a patient based on how many people are waiting to be seen.
Mobile clinics help alleviate that issue.
"I had heart exams through other providers that did not find what she found through a stethoscope that threw me for a loop right there and got the ball rolling for me into better health," Jones said.
Thanks to a correct diagnosis, medication to manage the disease, and easy access Jones uses his voice to encourage others to take advantage of mobile clinics that helped steer his health in the right direction.
"I call this my public service to the community," Jones said.