Innovative Mobile Clinic Serving Adults, Children and Families of
Spartanburg, Cerokee and Union Counties With Limited Access to Mental Health Services
With increasing numbers of people in the United States, a significant number never receive adequate psychiatric care. Often it is the case that individuals from underserved areas who have diagnosed disorders frequently face problems accessing psychiatric services. These medically underserved areas may include a whole county or groups of contiguous counties, in which the residents have a shortage of personal health services taking up to more than 30 minutes of travel time to reach. Medically underserved populations include groups of persons of a particular cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, spiritual belief, socioeconomic strata, or legal status, as well as persons residing in isolated geographic locations, that face barriers to health care. Underserved individuals can potentially lack insurance coverage and financial resources, as well as face cultural stigma, which may deter them from seeking mental health services. As a result, delayed identification and treatment of behavioral health issues can frequently lead to potentially negative outcomes. Therefore, it is imperative to individualize each patient interaction to explore options to remove barriers.