AHN’s Mobile Health Van Hits the Road, Offering Pediatric Sports Physicals to Northgate School District Students Friday

Donated by the Brother’s Brother Foundation, the AHN Mobile Clinic will Provide Health Screenings and Exams to Adults and Children in Underserved Communities across Western Pennsylvania

Bellevue, Pa. – Allegheny Health Network (AHN) is pleased to announce the launch of pediatric screenings and care services from its new mobile health van.

The AHN Mobile Clinic will be stationed at Northgate School District’s secondary school campus this Friday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to provide sports physicals for middle school and high school athletes, all of whom are enrolled students and pre-registered.

Northgate High School and Middle School are at 589 Union Ave., Bellevue.

Friday’s screening is the AHN mobile clinic’s second youth-focused event — earlier this month, the clinic debuted at Baldwin-Whitehall School District and provided sports physicals to more than 20 students.

“In our conversations with local school administrations, we learned that some school districts turn away as many as 50 would-be student athletes each year, simply because required sports physicals were not completed on time,” explained Joe Aracri, DO, pediatrician and Chair of AHN Pediatric Institute. “If the physicals aren’t completed, the student can’t participate in scholastic sports.”

Sports physicals are required by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association for a student-athlete to participate in scholastic sports.

During a sports physical, pediatricians or another provider will review a child’s medical and family history, perform examinations on the heart, lungs, abdomen, ears, nose, throat and vision as well as evaluate the child’s posture, joints, strength and flexibility. Pediatricians also use this time to learn more about a child’s emotional state prior to involvement in extracurricular activities.

“Involvement in school sports have many benefits for adolescents, including better physical fitness and improved mental health,” Dr. Aracri said. “Unfortunately, students sometimes miss sports physicals because of social barriers, such as inadequate transportation access, cost, and lack of a previously established pediatric care team. Our purposeful strategy helps to solve for some of these challenges by bringing vital health care services directly to the students and their schools.”

In close partnership with AHN’s Primary Care Institute, AHN pediatricians plan to serve all school districts in need via the AHN mobile health clinic, with a special emphasis on under-resourced districts where the percentage of ‘low-income’ households is greater than 50 percent. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Northgate’s enrollment of low-income families sits at 58 percent.

Sports physicals, however, do not replace annual wellness exams which families can schedule by reaching out to their established AHN pediatric office or by calling 412-DOCTORS.

In addition to pediatric care, the mobile health clinic will be used to provide health screenings and exams to adults living in communities marked by high levels of social vulnerability and insufficient access to health care services. Following each exam, care teams will work to connect patients with local health and social resources. Starting this fall, AHN also plans to use the mobile health clinic to widely administer flu vaccinations to adult and pediatric patients across underserved communities in western Pennsylvania.

The mobile health van was generously donated to AHN by Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF) in April.

“We are extremely grateful to Brother’s Brother Foundation for this significant donation, which enables us to reach more people across our region and essentially provide them with a starting point on a path toward improved health and wellness,” said Amy Crawford-Faucher, MD, vice chair, AHN Primary Care Institute, in April’s announcement. 

###