School and athletic physicals available on HOPE Mobile

[May 27, 2009]  The HOPE Mobile is pleased to offer school and athletic physicals for the 2009-2010 school year. This service will be available any days that the certified family nurse practitioner, Katherine "Kat" Yong, is traveling on the HOPE Mobile, which are usually Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

On Tuesdays, the HOPE Mobile can be found in Chestnut in the morning and Mount Pulaski in the afternoon. Wednesdays find HOPE in New Holland in the morning and Atlanta in the afternoon. The HOPE Mobile provides services in Elkhart on the first and third Thursday mornings and travels to Middletown on those same afternoons. The second and fourth Thursdays the HOPE Mobile is in Lincoln from 9 a.m. till 3:30 p.m.

Appointments are not required for school or athletic physicals; however, patients are encouraged to call 217-732-5066 to verify the location of the HOPE Mobile before traveling long distances. Immunizations are also available on the HOPE Mobile and do not require an appointment.

Students and their parents should present their insurance or Medicaid cards at the time of the visit. Applicable co-pays are required at the time of service. If no third-party payer is available, families will be charged the full rate for a school or athletic physical, which varies based on the services provided during the visit.

Every student entering preschool, kindergarten, sixth grade, ninth grade or transferring from an out-of-state school is required to have a physical examination. Also, students entering kindergarten, second grade and sixth grade are required to have a dental exam. The following are requirements for immunizations:

• Early childhood: Must show proof of receiving the required DTaP, IPV or OPV, Hep B, and HIB series. In addition they must show proof of having received after their first birthday one dose of MMR and one dose of varicella or official documentation of chickenpox.

• Kindergarten: Must show proof of receiving the required DTaP, IPV or OPV series (with boosters given after the fourth birthday), two doses of MMR, and one dose of varicella or official documentation of chickenpox.

• Fifth grade and up: Must show proof of receiving the required hepatitis B series.

• Ninth grade: Must show proof of receiving a Td booster.

The HOPE Mobile is a component of the Healthy Communities Partnership, a collaborative organization comprised of dozens of community agencies. It is supported in part by the Abraham Lincoln Healthcare Foundation.

[Text from file received from Healthy Communities Partnership]