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Miami hopes mobile unit will change college health

Noah Finney, peer educator and website coordinator standing inside the back of the bus, equipped with TV and informational health bulletins

Oriana Pawlyk Noah Finney, peer educator and website coordinator standing inside the back of the bus, equipped with TV and informational health bulletins

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By Oriana Pawlyk Contributing Writer 2:50 PM Monday, February 8, 2010

OXFORD — Miami University has a new Mobile Health Care Unit that will be available to students and the Oxford community starting Feb. 25.

The student-run, student-focused health promotion project is geared toward educating and empowering young adults to make decisions that will benefit their health and well-being.

The Mobile Health Unit will be in front of Follet’s Co-op Bookstore or the LCNB bank parking lot on select weekends from 8 p.m. to midnight.

The goal is to test the feasibility of using a mobile health unit on a college campus, said Reginald Fennell, principal investigator for the project funding.

“This is very exciting because this has never been done before,” he said. “This could be the way to change the face of college health. We must network to make this successful with the cooperative community and the university.”

The mobile unit looks like a traveling tour bus, equipped with a flat-screen TV built on the outside of the bus. Inside, visitors may find comfortable areas to sit and learn about health education.

“The bus is a lot of fun. We even have a full sound system and ‘party lights’ to make this an enjoyable experience for those who come to visit” said Christopher Escue, project coordinator.

“The TV on the outside has a Wii gaming system. This is not only to attract students, but also for stress relief and to promote physical exercise. It becomes a great segway into health education,” said Noah Finney, peer and Web site coordinator.

It has a ballot box inside where students can vote on issues they want to hear more information about or raise questions and concerns about topics such as the drinking age, drug use, etc.

“The focus is on students, but we want others to use it too,” Fennell said.

“We can go anywhere health is needed because we are mobile, like residence halls and sporting events,” Finney added.

“We hope this brings changes to the Miami health care system, because this is also a national demonstration project. We hope that other universities use this as a blueprint, as well,” Escue said.

The unit was funded by the Ford Foundation to implement The Mobile Health Initiative, a national demonstration of health promotion.

“We are also very fortunate to be working with Armor Mobile Systems” said Megan Becker, a peer educator for the Mobile Health Unit. Armor Mobile Systems designs and builds motor medical vehicles.

For more information on the Mobile Health Unit, visit units.muohio.edu/mobilehealthunit

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