SJ Health’s Community Health Initiative

SJ Health is committed to building a healthier community. One of its priorities is creating positive health outcomes by increasing access to care, providing additional resources, and strengthening community partnerships.

We serve the community by delivering mobile health services and implementing community engagement programs.

Mobile Health Services

Mobile health services bridge gaps between patients and healthcare providers. SJ Health deploys mobile health teams to areas where services are most needed, offering essential care such as:

• Vaccination
• Primary Care
• Chronic Disease Management
• Wound Care
• STD Testing and Treatment
• Women’s Health
• Social Services and Health Education
• Medication Assisted Treatment

Mobile health services serve the most vulnerable communities by reducing barriers to care, promoting early diagnosis and treatment, and supporting more equitable access to quality healthcare. Most importantly, they improve health outcomes and help prevent medical crises that often lead to emergency room visits or hospitalization. Mobile health teams typically comprise a provider, a nurse, a medical assistant and community health workers.

Mobile Clinic

SJ Health maintains a fleet of vehicles converted into one-exam room clinics. These are often referred to as MOBY the mobile clinic. They are scheduled to provide services at specific locations on a regular basis. These are used in various activities focused on specific service populations.

• Care Gap Clinics for SJ Health Patients

Guided by data from SJ Health’s Quality Team, mobile clinics are strategically deployed to neighborhoods to help patients meet specific health care requirements. Services may include annual physical examinations, chronic disease screenings, well-child visits and vaccinations, and comprehensive health assessments.  

• Community Clinics

Mobile Health Teams may also host special clinics focused on testing, vaccination and health screenings at accessible locations such as community centers, schools, and other neighborhood hubs. SJ Health actively participates in community health fairs to expand outreach and connect individuals with essential care services.

Homeless Health Services

SJ Health delivers compassionate, low-barrier care to individuals experiencing homelessness. Guided by a patient-centered approach, homeless health services meet people where they are – addressing immediate, urgent and long-term health needs. By tackling the complex challenges faced by the unhoused, SJ Health reduces barriers to care, improves health outcomes, alleviates pain and suffering, and helps prevent avoidable emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Mobile Health Teams dedicated to this mission work in interdisciplinary teams that include a provider, a nurse, a medical assistant and community health workers. They either utilize mobile clinics or walk though encampments and tent communities carrying medical supplies in backpacks offering care directly in the patient’s home environment.

Walk-Up Clinics

Walk-Up Clinics are intermittent mobile clinics essential to providing accessible health care for the unhoused. Just as the name implies, no appointments are required to receive care at these clinics, which are held weekly or monthly, in locations that are familiar, accessible, and convenient for unhoused individuals. Sites include shelters, showers, and laundry service locations. Walk-up clinics provide reassurance that care is available.

Current Walk-Up Clinics include:

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

• Wednesdays, 9am-12pm: St. John’s Episcopal Church, 316 N El Dorado Street, STOCKTON
• Thursdays, 9am–2pm: Gospel Center Rescue Mission, 204 E Sonora Street, STOCKTON
• Fridays, 9am-2pm: St Mary’s Community Services, 545 S Sonora Street (in front of Pathways Modular Unit Community)
• 1st Tuesday of the Month: 9am -1pm, Tracy Shelter, 370 W. Arbor Avenue, TRACY
• 2nd Tuesday of the Month: 9am – 1pm, Stockton Alliance Church, 825 W. Highmoor Avenue, STOCKTON

STANISLAUS COUNTY

• Thursdays, 9am-2pm: Patient Access Center (by Salvation Army)
  900 D Street, MODESTO

Street Medicine Outreach (SMO)

Street medicine is healthcare delivered directly to people experiencing homelessness – wherever they are. Sometimes referred to as “walking clinics” or “backpack clinics” because teams go on foot, carrying backpacks containing essential medical supplies and provide care on sidewalks, in encampments along riverbeds, railroad tracks, or other places.

SMO teams treat acute illness and wounds, support chronic management, and connect people to additional medical and social services. SMO teams work closely with the county’s Behavioral Health programs in providing substance use treatment and mental health support.

This model is designed to break down barriers to receiving health care and social services. Our SMO teams build long-term relationships and trust through consistent, compassionate, and accessible care.

Teams operate on varying days, times, and locations based on Community Health Worker assessments of encampments and are often coordinated with community partners and county agencies.

For more information about MOBY the mobile clinic, call (209) 953-3737.