The Wahzhazhe Health Center’s Mobile Medical Units have been open since July 8 and are servicing Skiatook, Hominy and Fairfax. The units, which WZZHC CEO calls “an extension of the clinic,” are two trailers outfitted to function as portable medical exam rooms.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Little said the mobile medical units, or MMUs, are the same ones that are on-site in the three districts during the Inlonshka. “There is really no difference between the way they operate during the dances and now.”
They were deployed to Skiatook, Fairfax and Hominy to provide health care to the more “rural” areas, and to draw people to services at the clinic in Pawhuska.
The units are currently on-site in the three locations one day per week – from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in Skiatook, and open at the same times on Wednesdays in Fairfax, and on Thursdays in Hominy.
Dental services will soon be available at the MMUs, said Rogers, but the WZZHC does not yet know when. Currently, patients can visit the mobile medical units to receive any type of care currently provided by the WZZHC, such as minor lab work, COVID, strep throat, the flu, and more.
Little said that the MMU in Hominy performed 20 sports physicals for school-age athletes in one day. They were able to do so because the units can accommodate two patients at a time in their larger unit.
Little acknowledged the space is smaller than a typical exam room. A partition divides two patient areas in the larger unit, and in both the smaller and larger MMU, three providers are present. Staffing includes one mid-level nurse practitioner, a nurse, and a security guard who also serves as the secretary and driver.
Before their clinical rollout, the MMUs were used for COVID vaccinations, and most recently, on-site in Barnsdall after the EF4 tornado. Over three years of service, the WZZHC developed a system for the MMUs to stock prescriptions, and ensure that the ramp is always operating, as well as the AC and the restrooms.
Those planning to make an upcoming visit to one of the MMUs should note that there is no waiting area, so they will need to wait either in their car or outside, before receiving care.
“It’s very accommodating, the unit was actually built for this,” said Little. “You have everything on the unit that you would have in a typical patient exam room. The instrumentation for exams is all the same. It’s not quite as big … but we pretty well do everything the same as we can in the office.” The mobile medical unit schedules are available at the Osage Nation Health System’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ONHSWahZhaZheHealthCenter. The August schedule notes they will be open 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in Skiatook, and at the same times on Wednesdays in Fairfax, and on Thursdays in Hominy.
