MERCER, Pa. - A first of its kind mobile clinic for opioid addiction will hit the roads of Mercer County this spring.

Primary Health is partnering with the Mercer County Behavioral Health Commission to provide a convenient clinic to those who don’t have transportation. 

“We are to go and find and give care to everybody we can,” George Pokrant, a Senior Director of Medical Operations at Primary Health said. “Just because they can't make it into one of our brick and mortar sites we need to go to them.”

Services at the clinic include medical needs assessment, SBIRT assessments (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment), OUD (Opioid Use Disorder) treatment referrals, as well as assessments and referrals for SDOH (social drivers of health). Counselors will be on site for the services and will connect people with a community worker who will help them find a way to get to treatment centers and other resources. 

“This initiative was born out of our deep commitment to working compassionately with individuals, with a focused objective on harm reduction,” Dr. George GarrowPrimary Health Network's CEO said in a press release. “We aspire to amplify the availability and accessibility of high-quality healthcare services, mitigate the adverse effects of substance use, and alleviate the stigma surrounding it.”

Medical staff will also be at the clinic to help with other issues.

“If they need dental services we’ll be able to refer them to that. If they have other behavioral health issues such as depression or anxiety we can get them help for that,” Pokrant said. 

One day a month, the mobile clinic will be parked at different spots in Farrell, Greenville and Sharon. 

“These are the three areas we can make the biggest impact in if you look at the statistics and the populous at large. They have an opioid use disorder problem, as does most of the communities in our country at this point,” Pokrant said. 

The Mercer County Commissioners granted Primary Health $56,970 for the clinic. The funds came from the Opioid Settlement Fund. 

Mercer County has already used $1,000,000 in settlement funds on projects like the clinic. Commissioner Ann Coleman said community members can submit proposals for projects that they want to be funded with the settlement money, those are considered by a board and then the county commissioners vote on whether to grant the funds at their regular meetings. 

The mobile clinic will hit the road in April of 2024.