The Health Wagon is hosting a free clinic Friday and Saturday in Abingdon. The event includes dental care, vision and hearing tests, X-rays, mental health care, treatment for muscle pain, lab tests and screenings for a number of different cancers.
Anyone is welcome to come to the event, free of charge, and you don’t need to provide details about income or insurance, said Health Wagon CEO Teresa Tyson. “We treat those that are uninsured, underinsured, because we all know that a lot of times people have insurance anymore and it’s just they’ll have high copays, they’ll have high deductibles,” Tyson said.
The clinic will have an acoustic vibration machine to help with pain management, and other ways to help treat muscle pain or muscle spasms. "You know we live in an area where, you know, a lot of coal miners, and a lot of people get hurt, Tyson said.
There are a limited number of dental appointments available, and patients are asked to call the Health Wagon to sign up. Everything else is first come, first served.
Tyson said in recent years they’ve seen more patients falling behind on cancer screenings and other preventative care, and they are seeing more cases of advanced cancer and heart disease.
“You know we need to get back in the routing of taking care of ourselves because knowledge is power,” Tyson said.
“One of these events saved my life because I went over and just happened to get a thyroid ultrasound because I had some family history,” Tyson said. “And I had a very early thyroid cancer. And if I had of let that go and did not get that thyroid ultrasound that day, then we don’t know what would have happened.”
Emory & Henry’s School of Life Sciences is partnering with the Health Wagon, and some of their students will be treating patients, supervised by a local doctor, Mark Handy.
“You’ve got one of the finest physicians that there is in Virginia right there with Dr. Handy,” Tyson said. “If you’ve got something that nobody’s been able to figure out on you, you know health wise, please come and discuss your health with Dr. Handy. He is absolutely great.”
After Hurricane Helene devastated areas of Southwest Virginia last year, Handy and other providers with the Health Wagon began traveling regularly to impacted communities, including Damascus, to treat flood survivors.
The health clinic is Friday and Saturday April 25-26 from 9 to 4 at the Washington County 4-H center, 25236 Hillman Highway in Abingdon. Vision and pulmonary testing are only offered on Saturday.
For more information contact the Health Wagon (276) 328-8850.
