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'It's A Godsend'

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By GEOFF FOX, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 19, 2008

Updated: 01/18/2008 09:46 pm

LACOOCHEE - The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile made its regularly scheduled stop at Lacoochee Elementary School on Friday.

The 40-by-10-foot van - featuring a wheelchair lift, examination tables, digital X-ray machines, and lots of medical and dental equipment - first visited the school in February and has returned almost every month.

"It's a godsend," said school nurse Patty Barthle.

Without the care mobile, Lacoochee students without health insurance often are treated at the Pasco County Health Department or Premier Community Health in Dade City, Barthle said.

Others, she said, might simply go without health care.

The care mobile is operated by the University of South Florida Department of Pediatrics and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. A camera crew shot footage of Friday's activities in Lacoochee for a promotional video to be seen by prospective donors.

Program Director Jeannette Fleischer of USF, said the mobile health care center debuted in the region in February. It serves about 60 schools in Hillsborough County. Lacoochee Elementary is the only Pasco school the care mobile regularly visits, but it also has visited Moore-Mickens Education Center in Dade City.

In addition to routine care, the program helps some uninsured children get treatment through Medicaid or other programs.

On Friday, the care mobile was scheduled to be in Lacoochee from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Barthle said Fleischer and the USF medical and nursing students who accompany her often go above and beyond.

"Last time, they stayed until 5 o'clock," she said. "There was a need, so they stayed."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at gfox@tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4217.

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