December 4, 2020 3:35 a.m.

The Douglas County Commissioners have announced that earlier this week, a 45-foot, 35,000 pound, 2008 International truck and trailer outfitted as a Mobile Medical Unit rolled into the county.

A release said the vehicle has been dubbed, “MOBILE ONE” and will allow valuable and critical health care services to be delivered directly to all areas of the county. It is the first of two mobile medical units that were purchased through a federal C.A.R.E.S Act grant program designated specifically for rural health initiatives. The second vehicle will arrive in about two weeks. Both of the MMU’s will be administered locally by Aviva Health.

Commissioner Tim Freeman said “The MMU will provide invaluable medical and testing capacities to our residents that were previously non-existent, not only during the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also as an asset for future medical outreach, education and disaster relief services”.

The vehicle was purchased from Life Line Mobile in Columbus, Ohio. Omar Assed, the Douglas County Fleet Division Manger and his staff, were able to secure and have the MMU delivered in less than six weeks. The vehicle was previously owned by a medical organization in Colorado and was used as a Ronald McDonald Mobile Dental Clinic.

The release said in the near term, Aviva Health intends to use the larger of the two units as a cough and fever clinic in response to COVID-19. Upon its arrival and when the COVID-19 vaccine is available, the smaller of the two MMU’s will be used as a COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The long-term plan for both units is to use them in the traditional sense to bring community-based healthcare to every resident regardless of financial means. The tagline Aviva Health has developed for this new service unit is “Better Health Coming Your Way”.