Plan A Health brings free mobile medical services to Dawson, southwest Georgia

DAWSON – The parking lots of Dawson’s Piggly Wiggly and Public Safety Complex had a special visitor during the last week in July – a mobile health care clinic, making its way around southwest Georgia. 

The Plan A Health Clinic provides health care on wheels, offering primary care services including blood pressure and blood sugar checks or reproductive health services like pap smears, mammogram referrals and STI screenings. Taneka Stephens, a nurse practitioner with Plan A, said the clinic began in Mississippi about four years ago and then expanded to southwest Georgia in the fall of 2024. 

“Our director picked rural areas where she sees that health care is needed,” Stephens said. “It had a huge impact in Mississippi, and Georgia was one of the states or areas that she researched and found needed more access to health care.”

Jaselyn Riden, a Plan A community health worker, said the focus is on rural communities due to the lack of resources regularly available to such a population. She said rural communities have a high rate of uninsured or underinsuredness as well as limited transportation to get to health care centers that are often far distances away.

The clinic’s small unit has two exam rooms where patients can receive private, confidential care. The services are free to everyone, regardless of insurance status. Anyone is welcome to visit and ask questions, receive care or pick up free items, like stress balls, Vaseline or condoms. 

The mobile unit travels around southwest Georgia three to four days a week, traveling to Americus, Albany, Cuthbert, Edison and other area communities. Plan A Health workers network with local organizations to pinpoint central locations that allow the unit the most visibility and easy access to residents. 

It was stationed in Dawson at two different locations on July 25 and July 28. Ridden said she saw about 20 people at the Piggly Wiggly. Some received care and others took advantage of giveaway items. 

Both Riden and Stephens said the clinic allows them to save lives, detecting health care concerns that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. 

“We feel like superheroes,” Ridden said. “I just want to encourage people to get their screenings and not neglect their health.”

The group is looking to expand its reach, providing for more Georgians and forming partnerships with local health care establishments. 

If you missed the mobile unit in July, Stephens said it will return to Dawson in the coming months. The group plans to return to each location – or close by – once a month. 

Interested persons can check the Plan A Health site for the schedule at https://planahealth.org/georgia.