Mobile Clinic Coming to Hardeman and Fayette Counties
Tennessee’s Project Rural Recovery is growing. Thanks to $6.3 million budgeted in the current fiscal year by Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly, Project Rural Recovery is expanding mobile health clinic services to 10 new counties, including Hardeman and Fayette.
“The expansion of mobile health clinic services to Hardeman, Haywood, and Fayette Counties is incredible news for our citizens,” said Senator Page Walley. “Access to health care is a significant challenge that our rural communities face. These clinics help address those problems and provide quality, no cost health care in rural Tennessee, so citizens will not have to travel far to get the health services they need. I was very proud to support the funds needed to expand these services into more counties. There will certainly be positive health outcomes in our communities from these clinics.”
Pathways Behavioral Health Services will serve Crockett, Fayette, Hardeman, Haywood, and Lauderdale Counties in West Tennessee. As with the current counties served by Project Rural Recovery, department leaders selected the expansion areas with an emphasis on rural, underserved, and distressed counties.
“Project Rural Recovery is changing lives and increasing resiliency in Tennessee’s rural communities. We’re so proud of this program and the impact that it’s having for Tennesseans who otherwise would have to travel long distances or forego the care they need,” said TDMHSAS Commissioner Marie Williams. “We’re so grateful to Governor Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly for seeing the value in this program and deciding to double its reach with ten new counties.”
Project Rural Recovery seeks to address infrastructure barriers to access in rural communities with mobile clinics. The units offer two exam spaces, a restroom, a small waiting area, and a lift for accessibility. Providers offer integrated behavioral and physical healthcare for free or no cost to the patient. Through its first two years, Project Rural Recovery has served more than 1,600 Tennesseans.
“Rural counties in our state face so many unique healthcare challenges. Just by parking in a community and holding clinic hours one day a week on a regular basis, our mobile units can have an outsized impact on access to care and truly change the lives of the people they serve,” said Jessica Youngblom, LMSW, TDMHSAS Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Project Rural Recovery started in March 2020 with the award of a 5-year $10 million federal grant. The new funding in the TDMHSAS budget is from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Hardeman and Fayette county residents can expect to start seeing these mobile clinics visit their counties weekly beginning early next year.
Learn more about Project Rural Recovery.
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