More kids will be able to get the health care they need thanks to Monumental Sports and Entertainment’s $1.1 million donation to help operate MedStar Georgetown’s Kids Mobile Medical Clinic.
“Being able to bring doctors and nurses and the technology right into the neighborhoods, I think, is really, really important service,” Ted Leonsis, founder and CEO of Monumental, told WTOP at the mobile clinic’s ribbon cutting.
Representatives from MedStar Health joined Leonsis and mascots G-Wiz, Slapshot and Pax the Panda to cut the ribbon on the newly refurbished mobile clinic with the team’s brand names posted on the side.
“They’ve been doing this for 20 years,” Leonsis said. “And our commitment to the community and MedStar was to find ways to invest in technology and medicine and bring that right to the families.”
Monumental’s refurbishment will help MedStar continue its decades-long work of rotating the mobile clinics between neighborhoods, including Lincoln Heights, Potomac Gardens and Navy Yard.
Doctors and nurses perform routine wellness checks, physical exams, labs, vaccinations and sick visits while aboard the mobile clinics.
Dr. Janine Rethy, division chief of community pediatrics with MedStar Health, told WTOP they also fill other needs.
“We screen for things that you wouldn’t typically think would occur in a child checkup, which includes screening for social determinants of health, including things like food insecurity, housing insecurity and unmet educational needs,” she said.
“I know as a parent, the most important thing in your life is, how are (my) kids doing?” Leonsis said. “And so bringing that power through pediatricians, nurses and having the parents be able to bring their kids in their neighborhood in a very convenient way. I think that’s a great program — excellent!”
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