NewYork-Presbyterian Launches Sexual Health Mobile Medical Unit in New York City
The mobile medical unit brings HIV screening and comprehensive sexual health services to underserved communities.
NewYork-Presbyterian today announced the launch of the Sexual Health Mobile Medical Unit that provides high-quality sexual health care to underserved communities in New York City.
The Sexual Health Mobile Medical Unit offers comprehensive sexual health services, with a focus on addressing HIV and sexual health disparities in Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem and Washington Heights. It brings screening, prevention and care directly to community members at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) who face barriers to engaging in care in traditional medical settings.
“The Sexual Health Mobile Medical Unit offers a safe, inclusive space for people to receive the high-quality sexual health services they deserve, free of stigma,” said Dr. Peter Gordon, the mobile medical unit’s medical director and the medical director of the Comprehensive Health Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “We are dedicated to improving the sexual health of our communities and helping to end the HIV epidemic.”
The interior of the Sexual Health Mobile Medical Unit
The mobile medical unit is made possible through funding from the Dalio Center for Health Justice and the Division of Community and Population Health at NewYork-Presbyterian, and a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Services also include gender-affirming and LGBTQ+ care, family planning services, routine laboratory testing, sexual health vaccinations, health education and hepatitis C screening. The unit provides medications that lower the risk of HIV infection, PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis). Patients are also offered the opportunity to be connected to social services, benefits enrollment, and local healthcare providers.
Staffed by a team of NewYork-Presbyterian healthcare providers, the 37-foot-long unit has an exam room, consult room and laboratory space with refrigerators for specimens, medications and vaccines. The unit will also partner with community-based organizations which offer low-cost and high-quality sexual health care.