Mobile Health Van at University of Buffalo
UB’s new mobile clinic, Health on Wheels, will provide much-needed access and services to underserved communities in Erie, Niagara and surrounding counties.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo’s newest mobile health van is ready for the road and will soon be providing free health services to neighborhoods across Western New York.
Area elected officials joined UB leaders and members of Buffalo’s Seneca-Babcock neighborhood Wednesday afternoon for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and unveiling of the van, dubbed Health on Wheels. Members of the media are invited to cover the event, set for 2 p.m. at the Seneca-Babcock Arlene Mychajliw Community Center, 82 Harrison St., Buffalo (see map for exact location).
Scheduled speakers include:
Rep. Tim Kennedy.
UB President Satish K. Tripathi.
Jean Wactawski-Wende, dean of UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.
Bryan Bollman, Buffalo Common Council Member, Lovejoy District
Dan Alexander, an alumnus of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB who served as co-chair of UB’s Boldly Buffalo campaign.
Brian Pilarski, executive director of the Seneca- Babcock Community Association
Jessica Kruger, clinical associate professor, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.
Years in the making, UB’s Health on Wheels van received a major boost in 2023, when former U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins announced $933,800 in federal funding to support the project, which also received $600,000 from the Mother Cabrini Foundation.
Health on Wheels will provide much-needed access and services, not only to Buffalo’s Seneca-Babcock neighborhood — a high-need community where the van will be regularly stationed — but also to other underserved communities in Erie, Niagara and surrounding counties.
From the mobile units, UB health sciences students and faculty work together as interprofessional teams to offer health screening services, provide navigation to services available in the community and education on disease prevention.