John Muir Health is celebrating a quarter century of its Mobile Health Clinic Program, which brings free primary care, preventive services, mental health support, and vaccinations directly to underserved communities across Contra Costa County, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“The Mobile Health Clinic program represents our commitment to meeting people where they are and removing barriers to care, including lack of insurance, transportation challenges, and language access,” said Jamie Elmasu, director of Community Health Improvement for John Muir Health.
“For 25 years, these services have helped connect vulnerable and underserved populations with compassionate, high-quality health care close to home.”
Since launching in Brentwood in 2001 with the Village Community Resource Center, the program has grown steadily, adding sites and partnerships along the way, including a 2019 collaboration with Contra Costa County Healthcare for the Homeless and more than 3,600 COVID-19 vaccinations delivered during the pandemic. A new site opened this year at Grace Bible Fellowship of Antioch. In total, the program has provided free care to more than 13,000 patients over its 25 years, with clinics now rotating through Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, and Pittsburg.
For many patients, the mobile clinic is the only option available. “Our door serves as a portal to health care for a very important sector of our community,” said Dr. Kishore Nath, the clinic’s medical director.
“It allows us to see patients who fall in between: those who work hard and make just enough money not to qualify for Medi-Cal, but not enough to buy health insurance.”
The clinic’s reach in a single recent year shows how much need it meets: in 2025 alone, it served 457 unique patients across 846 encounters, with 84 percent of patients speaking a language other than English and 99 percent uninsured.
That focus extends to meeting patients on their own terms, linguistically and culturally.
“The Mobile Health Clinic focuses its services in our most under-resourced communities,” said Juliana Rodriguez, a licensed vocational nurse and the clinic’s supervisor.
“It is critical for us to provide care that is culturally and linguistically aligned with our patients’ needs.”
Watch this video to learn more about the mobile clinic:
This summary is based on the following sources:
- John Muir Health Celebrates 25 Years of Mobile Health Clinic Services to Support the Community, by John Muir Health
- Mobile Health Clinic, from the John Muir Health website
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