VCOM 2025 Annual Report

55

OUTREACH

Mobilizing Compassion in 2025 V COM launched four mobile medical units (MMUs), providing care to medically underserved communities across the globe. VCOM-Carolinas, which has a mature mobile outreach program, unveiled a new, state-of-the-art MMU in March that will bring essential healthcare services to the underserved areas of Upstate South Carolina. The upgraded MMU includes two private exam rooms, a waiting area, a restroom, and advanced diagnostic equipment. The Carolinas MMU offers weekly clinics, quarterly medical mission trips, and outpatient services in partnership with organizations such as St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic, the Free Medical Clinic of Cherokee County and the Samaritan Health Clinic. In late 2024, two custom MMUs were prepared and delivered to VCOM-Louisiana. The new MMUs are equipped with exam rooms, clinical workspaces, and wheelchair-accessible features. After preparing faculty and students to use the new equipment, the units were actively serving communities across northeast Louisiana by October 2025. By the end of the year, the units had visited 10 community sites and served nearly 150 individuals. A consistent return schedule to some sites will strengthen community engagement as individuals share their experiences, encourage peers to participate, and continue prioritizing preventive care. With ongoing outreach planned, the program reflects VCOM’s commitment to meeting patients where they are, delivering compassionate, accessible care, and

preparing future osteopathic physicians for service-driven practice across the region. The outreach program in Tegucigalpa,

Honduras, also gained a mobile medical unit in late 2024, and in January 2025, a VCOM medical mission team of students, physicians and staff from VCOM-Virginia and VCOM-Carolinas utilized the unit for the first time. On

its first day in action, more than a dozen women were seen for well-women exams and pap smear testing in the privacy of the onboard exam room and air conditioned exam area.