Sam Houston State University Russell & Glenda Gordy College of Osteopathic Medicine has been awarded $1.4 million from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to establish a women’s preventive mobile health unit that will bring healthcare services directly to rural and medically underserved communities across East Texas.
The two-year award was provided through HHSC’s Mobile Health Unit Expansion Program. The unit is expected to serve communities within 100 miles of Conroe.
For many women in rural Texas, receiving preventive care involves much more than making an appointment. It may require traveling to another county, finding reliable transportation, arranging childcare and taking time away from work. When those obstacles become too difficult, routine screenings and health concerns may be postponed until a condition becomes more serious.
Across Texas, the numbers show how widespread this challenge is. More than 376,000 women of reproductive age live in a county with no women’s health provider. Nearly half of all counties statewide fall into that category, and about one in five Texas women of childbearing age do not have insurance to cover care even if a provider is nearby. For many, that is not a statistic — it is the reason a routine screening turns into a 100-mile drive.
