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Community campaign nets 69 commitments to support Delaware County’s wellness-on-wheels mobile unit
Summary
A HRSA-funded community engagement campaign completed 45 listening sessions and secured 69 community commitments to support a county mobile health program, staff told the board.
Delaware County Health Department staff reported that a federally funded community engagement campaign produced 45 listening sessions, 228 participants representing 91 stakeholder groups, seven pop-up events and a database of more than 400 community contacts for future mobile-health outreach. The campaign, funded through a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Delaware County Health Equity Grant, was presented by contract project manager Ellen Morphy.
Morphy said the campaign’s goals were to raise awareness about planned mobile-health services, gather input on desired services and build relationships that would support program launch. The consulting firm Community Capacity Builders conducted facilitation after a county RFP and ran listening sessions at sites including Chester Housing Authority properties and pop-up events such as Bridal Fest and an AAPI festival.
The campaign returned concrete commitments: 33 organizations agreed to provide outreach or referrals, 40 agreed to host the wellness-on-wheels unit at events or sites, 16 agreed to provide supporting services, and 26 offered other partnership support. Morphy said the engagement produced community-approved communications approaches, a calendar of target events, quick-reference guides for target communities and more than 400 contacts the department can re-engage when the mobile unit is operational.
Department staff said the mobile unit is a 33-foot custom vehicle that is ADA-accessible; delivery timing has shifted and the vehicle had not yet been received at the time of the presentation. The HRSA grant covered facilitation and much of the campaign work; the department said it will absorb ongoing operating costs in its budget after grant funds are expended and will seek additional funding as needed.
Board members asked about the specific services community members requested. Morphy said open-ended feedback favored mental-health services, navigation assistance, harm-reduction supports, vaccination and blood-lead screening, chronic-disease screening (blood pressure, diabetes), vision and dental screening, and help navigating primary and behavioral health care. The department intends to pair clinical services with take-home resources and incentives to increase participation, and staff said privacy, stigma (for STI services) and siting/accessibility are key considerations for unit operations.
No final decisions were made at the meeting; staff said they will distribute the full campaign report to the board and continue planning with community partners.
