Minneapolis on Friday unveiled an RV that will deliver medical care to underserved communities, starting with medications to combat opioid cravings, wound care and mental health screenings.
City leaders said the mobile medical unit, funded by lawsuit settlements with opioid-drug manufacturers and distributors, will eventually expand into other forms of medical and perhaps dental care.
“We don’t need to wait for them to come into the doctor’s office,” said Mayor Jacob Frey, standing in front of the white RV at Elliot Park on Friday morning. “We can go out directly to them wherever they are.”
Neighborhoods can request a visit from the medical unit, which will be staffed by a physician assistant, three nurses and a driver who also is a peer-support counselor. But the bus will mostly offer walk-up visits and appointments in high-need areas such as Elliot Park, Little Earth, Cedar-Riverside and 36th and Penn.
The RV was scheduled to make its first official stop Friday afternoon at 27th and Minnehaha avenues. The unit has clinic space inside for seeing patients and equipment for taking blood pressure and other vital measurements.
More than 1,000 Minnesotans die each year from opioid-related drug overdoses, and more than 4,000 are treated in emergency rooms for non-fatal overdoses, according to state data. Illicit use of potent fentanyl opioids has caused death numbers in Minnesota to almost triple over the past decade.
City officials hope the RV would confront that problem by providing easier and lower-cost access to buprenorphine, which is federally approved to treat opioid-use disorders and reduce drug cravings.
Tony Zaccardi said he was providing peer support, after achieving sobriety more than two years ago, through Hazelden Betty Ford when he was recruited to drive the RV and help its patients. He said he earned a commercial driver’s license after practicing with the help of city workers on maintenance vehicles.
