Get a Quick Mobile Health Assessment on Campus

One-stop-shop health screenings are available at no charge for staff and faculty

A nurse draws blood from a patient's finger
LIVE FOR LIFE nurse Shelly Miller draws a blood sample from clinical nurse Jasmine Fouche at a LIVE FOR LIFE mobile health assessment clinic in the Duke Clinic on Nov. 15. (Photo by Brandon Bieltz)

As a clinical nurse, Jasmine Fouche knows the importance of catching health issues early. But as a nurse at Duke’s Infectious Disease Clinic, she’s also very busy caring for patients. Squeezing in time to take inventory of her own health isn’t always easy.

So when Duke’s employee wellness program LIVE FOR LIFE set up a mobile health assessment clinic on the floor right above hers in the Duke Clinic, she made sure to take a few minutes during a break to get a quick snapshot and learned more about connecting with a nutritionist.

“It’s very beneficial because, sadly, people don’t always go to their primary care providers for their physicals,” Fouche said. “I didn’t know about the nutrition consultation, so the fact that the clinic nurse automatically did the referral was awesome.”

Staffed by Duke nurses, the roving and regularly held mobile health assessment clinics provide free screenings that take about 15 minutes and connect staff and faculty with preventive care and resources that can help them improve their health.

“We will go to all locations and sites, so they don’t have to come to us,” said Jessica Bailey, LIVE FOR LIFE’s nurse manager. “We’ll go out and do cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, height, weight, BMI and waist circumference. Then, after you finish your health assessment, we can sign you up for health coaching, nutrition consults, fitness consults, counseling services, stress management resources and bariatric surgery as well.”

A person has their blood pressure taken.
Clinical Social Worker Jaleesa Spears has her blood pressure tested during a LIVE FOR LIFE mobile health assessment clinic in the Duke Clinic on Nov. 15 Photo by Brandon Bieltz

While LIVE FOR LIFE has permanent facilities to conduct assessments for employees, the mobile clinic brings the same services to departments and offices across the campus and Duke University Health System. Bailey said that the flexible service provides a better chance to meet with employees who may not make time to go see their doctor regularly.

“It’s hard for employees to find the time to take away from work to actually come to us,” she said. “It’s important to make sure we reach everyone.”

Jaleesa Spears, a clinical social worker for Duke, appreciated the easy option to get an assessment without leaving her building or taking much time away from her work.

“It shows Duke cares about their employees,” she said. “It was very convenient because I literally work downstairs. I just hit the elevator.”

Ten minutes later, Spears headed back to work knowing she needed to keep an eye on a low glucose level and with information on fitness trainers and nutrition consultations. Having just started at Duke in September, she welcomed the opportunity to sit down with a nurse and discuss the resources available to her as an employee.

Proactive conversations can be crucial to catching something before it becomes a full health crisis, Bailey said. The mobile health assessment clinics make all that information more easily accessible to the workforce and help employees live healthy lives.

“Preventative is always better than dealing with something once it happens,” Bailey said. “We can prevent employees from getting to a place where they’re missing a lot of days or having to use PTO or even not being paid. We want to make sure we keep our employees healthy and make sure that we promote health.”

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