This project will be in partnership with the Houston County Health Department, who will provide staffing for the mobile unit. The county will be in charge of maintenance on the vehicle, and the health department will cover sanitation of the unit.
The leftover money from the grant will be used to build a warehouse that will be equipped to store personal protective equipment (PPE) and will house the mobile unit as well. Currently, the county has been storing PPE at the Farm Center, which Culver said is not equipped to keep a lot of the PPE.
“The new building will be available to county EMS, EMA or the health department to store PPE,” VanScyoc said. “The Farm Center just isn’t conducive to house all of that PPE; this building will be insulated to properly house all the equipment and the mobile unit.”
VanScyoc said this project is a great investment because it will be useful beyond COVID, after the pandemic.
“We need it right now for vaccines, but even after we are past this the county will have the mobile unit to help distribute flu vaccines or whatever type of booster shot or annual vaccine COVID-19 will need,” VanScyoc said. “It could even be used to set up at senior centers for routine wellness checks; it’s multipurpose.”
The application for the grant is due by April 1. VanScyoc said they hope to have the mobile unit in service within a couple of months.
