Talk to any faculty, staff or student involved with UNC Greensboro School of Nursing’s Minerva’s Mobile Health Unit, and you hear the same resounding sentiment: we meet people where they are. 

For Minerva Nurse Manager Sarah Apel, unit days start early, with a predetermined schedule and a big checklist—in charge of Minerva’s day-to-day operations, Apel ensures the unit is properly staffed, supplies are ready, and the weather is doable.  

Apel then revs up the engine, and the bright gold and navy blue mobile unit leaves campus for another day of impactful service.  

“Minerva meets people where they are,” says Apel. “It’s really different from one day to the next, but each day is full of incredible opportunities to serve our community.”  

From Concept to Reality  

In UNCG’s School of Nursing (SON), brainstorming began in 2021. SON Dean Debra Barksdale fully supported this project as she’s dedicated many years of her career to caring for the underserved. 

“We sought a grant to support a mobile health unit for underserved populations and to draw rural and underrepresented students into nursing,” says Audrey Synder, the SON associate dean who originally envisioned this effort.  

For the proposal, subcontractor Cone Health conducted data mining to determine locations in North Carolina’s Piedmont region with the greatest needs. In July 2022, the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) granted four years of funding.  

Synder’s team got to work, partnering with Mission Mobile Medical, to secure a used motorhome and repurpose the vehicle. A UNCG graphic artist created the unit’s bold design, and naming the unit Minerva made perfect sense.  

In fall 2023, the vision became reality, and Minerva’s Mobile Health was officially launched. 

Serving Populations Who Need It Most  

In Minerva’s first year of operation, the unit achieved its goals of helping medically underserved populations and benefiting UNCG nursing students.  

The unit hosted clinic operations in Forsyth, Rockingham, Randolph, Davidson, Davie, and Guilford counties with 146 events, providing 2,843 services to over 932 patients.  

And the numbers of patients and communities served only continues to grow.  

Also during that first year, nursing students spent 2,670 hours with Minerva’s Mobile Health, the Cone Health Congregational and Community Nurse Program, and other community partners.  

“Minerva is stationed at different areas where we are providing care to the elderly, the disabled, the unhoused, and the newly arrived in this country,” says Tiffany Gibson, a SON associate professor in advanced nursing education who works on Minerva. “We are in the places a lot of providers do not go.”  

Minerva continues to add new locations to its schedule, but the Tiny House HOPE Center, the New Arrivals Institute, Reidsville’s Baptist Temple, Randolph County’s Our Daily Bread, Davidson County’s The Father’s Storehouse, and Hemphill Library are regularly served. 

“Our presence in vulnerable populations has elicited a newfound hope in these communities,” says Apel. “They now know someone cares about them enough to consistently show up.”  

Now on the road for over 18 months, Minerva has filled its calendar. It is active five to six days a week, sometimes seeing patients at three locations in one day. 

No Two Days the Same  

There is no “typical day” on Minerva, but once the unit arrives, the assembled team of nurses, including students, goes out to serve that day’s community however it is needed. 

Twenty-seven Mobile Health Scholars serve on the unit, three graduate and 24 undergraduate nursing students. All are from underrepresented backgrounds who expressed interest in community and mobile health.  

When doors open, Minerva sees patients with diverse needs that fluctuate in severity. Nurses deliver an extensive range of services – from health screenings, after-hospital exams, and child check-ups to school and sports physicals, wound care, and flu vaccinations. 

Most importantly, they focus on listening to patients to discern not only their healthcare needs but also what may prevent them from receiving that care.  

“Many clients have multiple needs that impact their health,” Synder explains. “Therefore, we refer them to services within the community and collaborate with community partners to meet their needs.” 

Gibson stresses the importance of building trust during patient care: “I get on the patient’s level. I sit with them, go outside with them, shake their hands, and ask about their culture.”  

Nursing students learn that working on Minerva’s Mobile Health is about so much more than basic care. Joycelin Uyadi appreciates the integrated approach she’s learned on the unit.  

“We help them in all aspects, providing care, education, and guidance, and making friends along the way,” says Uyadi. “It’s really a bipartisan community.”   

Good Care for All  

Benefits of Minerva’s Mobile Health are many, but teaching patients what good healthcare looks like is particularly important to Gibson.  

“I want people to have a different perspective on what care should be and use their voice to demand that type of care,” says Gibson. “Minerva helps people learn how care should be delivered.”  

Gibson’s sentiments support Minerva’s overall goal of utilizing education to empower patients by giving them the necessary tools to manage their own healthcare as much as possible. 

Mobile Health Scholar Che Curtis believes Minerva builds trust in populations that may lack faith in the healthcare system.  

“I come from a community that historically doesn’t trust healthcare providers and lacks resources,” says Curtis. “On Minerva, I strive to be the connection between the community I came from, which is similar to populations we serve, and the many resources the unit provides.”  

Mobile Health Scholar Experience 

The nursing students’ experience on Minerva impacts both patient encounters and the students’ perspectives.  

“I have a student who speaks four languages. When we visit the New Arrivals Institute, he is a big hit because he can easily switch languages and help patients feel at ease,” says Apel.  

Students also conduct research to provide patients with information, including bus routes or hospital, pharmacy, and library locations in eight Piedmont counties.  

Perhaps what is most impactful for these scholars is seeing medicine from a different lens than bedside care.  

“This experience working on the unit with different ages, different conditions, and different demographics strengthens my clinical judgment skills, making me a better clinician,” says Curtis.  

It’s also clear this experience directs scholars’ future career paths. “Serving on Minerva makes me want to focus on rural health and underserved populations,” says Uyadi.  

Looking to the Future  

Apel would love to see a whole fleet of mobile health units embarking from UNCG in the future.  

“Working with these vulnerable populations has really reinstated my faith in humanity,” says Apel. “Some of these folks face incomprehensible life events, yet they take care of each other and take care of me.” To Apel, this is why this important work “fills her cup.” 

Mobile Health Scholar Triquina Harrison recognizes it takes a certain mindset and a big heart to work on the unit.  

“People need a lot more care than just medications,” says Harrison. “They need a nurse who will go the extra mile, with a determined mindset who thinks ‘I can and will help this patient.’”  

Minerva will continue to bridge the healthcare gaps in its community, meeting people lacking adequate care exactly where they are.  

“UNCG Mobile Health is made up of educators who love patient care, who are incorporating our love of community, care, and education, and bringing that to a specialized population, regardless of race, culture, or class,” says Gibson.  

Story by Amy Burtch, AMBCopy   
Photography by Sean Norona; Video by David Row, University Communications