LAKEPORT – Community leaders came together on Thursday to celebrate the culmination of several years of work to improve accessibility to local health care.
Sutter Lakeside Hospital's Mobile Health Services Unit was introduced to the community at the afternoon ceremony, held at the hospital's Lakeport campus.
The unit, which cost nearly $300,000, will provide a variety of screening services and annually serve an estimated 1,000 patients who have challenges traveling to health care providers.
Tammi Silva, director of the Sutter Lakeside Hospital Foundation as well as the hospital's public relations director, said the project's completion exemplified the community's dedication and perseverance.
She said the unit was introduced not as a business venture, but in answer to a community need, with an estimated 6,000 people of all ages countywide who have no access to basic health care.
The community responded to the effort, which included a 2007 fundraising event featuring actor Jamie Farr, who portrayed Corporal Max Klinger in the TV show “MASH,” which Silva said was in keeping with the mobile medical unit spirit.
She said the campaign never waned, even as the hospital faced financial struggles and fewer government funding sources.
