
The Clinic on Wheels: Meeting Local Health Care Challenges
Special | 2m 37sVideo has Closed Captions
UNC Pembroke's mobile clinics meet local needs and give students "real world" experience.
Over 40% of the population surrounding UNC Pembroke is Native American. It’s a community that faces unique public health concerns that are being answered through innovative partnerships between the local hospital, community leaders and UNC Pembroke, whose students and mobile medical clinic travels to meet local healthcare challenges in the communities most in need.
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The Innovators is a local public television program presented by PBS NC

The Clinic on Wheels: Meeting Local Health Care Challenges
Special | 2m 37sVideo has Closed Captions
Over 40% of the population surrounding UNC Pembroke is Native American. It’s a community that faces unique public health concerns that are being answered through innovative partnerships between the local hospital, community leaders and UNC Pembroke, whose students and mobile medical clinic travels to meet local healthcare challenges in the communities most in need.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[dramatic music] - One of the things we have to think about with healthcare is healthcare is very culturally determined.
The mobile unit actually expands and increases our commitment to a healthy populace, an educated populace, as well as culturally competent healthcare.
And to me, that is the quintessential things being here at UNC Pembroke.
I have never seen the quality of education, the commitment to the community, and the commitment to future in innovations that I have seen at this university.
- It's important that we have something like this that can go out into community and offer services that aren't provided, or aren't available to those in the rural areas.
So with the skills bus, we're able to come out and do skills that we wouldn't be able to do in the hospital, so we're getting more experience.
We're also able to educate, diabetes education, hypertension, we're able to do primary prevention rather than treating the cost.
- Primary prevention is key.
You know, you want to prevent the disease before it gets further.
So using this mobile clinic is a great way of preventing it.
You know, we're able to do teach and we're able to do screenings, we're able to give vaccines, which is needed here in Robinson County.
- It's nice to see someone that you might know, or someone that looks like you and to come up and see that, they feel more comfortable and trust you more to understand who you are and what you come from and your healthcare need.
- When community members are able to serve each other, from a public health standpoint, it enables patients to see their providers as a person.
They're hearing the accent and they're asking like, "Where are you from?"
And it really helps with that public health piece because now the patients feel more comfortable with opening up to their providers.
They see someone who will actually listen to what their concerns are and can answer those questions.
And I feel like the ability to ask the questions, it's a little easier.
And if you're going to be successful, you need someone in your corner kind of cheering you on, kind of saying, "Hey, go that way," you know?
- Aristotle said that in order to have a healthy democracy, you needed a healthy populace.
And so that is what I'm striving for is how do I, not one person at a time, but by everyone I teach, how do I help them serve a whole group of people?
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The Innovators is a local public television program presented by PBS NC