Louisville hosts free health screenings for Winston Co. community
LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Mississippi State Department of Health Services made health resources available for the Louisville and Winston County community on September 25.
“A lot of our residents can’t get out to the different facilities like they properly can, so we have to come out to the health fair and they’re able to get the free screenings here,” said Merida Triplett, the Community Health Worker for the Department of Health Services.
Several different health organizations were present.
One struggle of accessing health services for many is transportation.
“We don’t have an Uber driver, we don’t have taxis, we don’t have public services like the buses. So we decided to pick a location here in Louisville and be able to bring the community that are nearby us in here for the services,” said Triplett.
The number one health challenge in Mississippi is heart disease. However, there has been a rise in sexually transmitted diseases.
That’s part of the reason Open Arms Health Care Center brought their mobile clinic.
Residents were able to get tested for HIV, syphilis, and other STDS.
Eldridge Ellis is the Opens Arms mobile clinic coordinator.
“We have pockets of people in this state that just do not have access to quality health care or access to food, quality food. So we thought that it would be a good thing to provide those services free of charge and come to them,” said Ellis.
Open Arms mobile clinic travels the state of Mississippi to bring these health services to communities.
“So, the community is our biggest draw, so whatever the community has, health fairs, health centers, health education, we can be involved, ” said Ellis.
Residents were able to get their results for HIV the same day and receive information for next steps.
According to the Mississippi Center for Justice, Mississippi is experiencing some of the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in the country.
