Listen:
New technology unveiled Wednesday addresses healthcare for the unhoused.
A unique “clinic in a box” provides virtual healthcare to the homeless in Tampa.
The OnMed Care Station is a small booth, slightly larger than an SUV.
It resembles a small doctor’s office on the inside, with medical tools and a large screen allowing patients to video chat with a doctor. Patients are connected with a certified nursing assistant, who begins an intake process and then connects them with an OnMed clinician for a live, virtual visit.
Local leaders unveiled the new device at the homeless shelter Tampa Hope – where Sammie Harris has lived since May. Tampa Hope has roughly 235 residents.
He became unhoused after having heart surgery.
“It’s a wonderful machine because you can get to talk to a person on the screen, you get to talk to a person, it’s wonderful because you don’t have to make doctors appointments,” Harris said at the ribbon cutting for the device.
Mayor Jane Castor spoke at the ribbon cutting about how beneficial the machine is to the community.
“People can go in at the beginning of symptoms and get those diagnosed, get those treated so that it doesn’t turn into something that will, God forbid, take their life prematurely,” Castor said.
The project was funded by Tampa General Hospital and The McNamara Foundation.
Leave a Reply
