UF Health goes mobile with new cancer treatment vehicle

The University of Florida (UF) Health Cancer Center is going mobile.

UF Health has launched a new 40-foot-long vehicle designed to take cancer treatment and relief on the road. The “Mobile Cancer Screening Connector” is designed to provide mobile outreach for cancer screenings, along with three-dimensional mammograms and other cancer screening procedures.

The Mobile Cancer Screening Connector is the first mobile cancer treatment vehicle in North Florida. Its aim is to provide cancer outreach treatment to the more rural areas of North and Central Florida where residents are far from a fully functional cancer facility at a traditional hospital, said a UF Health news release.

“We are so proud to launch the Mobile Cancer Screening Connector to bring vital cancer screening and health care services directly to people right in their own communities,” said Jonathan D. Licht, Director of the UF Health Cancer Center.

“As a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, this innovative mobile unit will help us reduce the burden of cancer in the expansive area we serve, with a particular focus on rural, aging, and underserved groups, and bring evidence-based health care where it’s needed most.”

A federal grant from the UF President’s strategic funding program is helping to pay for the vehicle. A $1.5 million grant from the program went to the cancer mobile unit. Matching funds from the Cancer Center also contributed to funding the vehicle.

Additional resources, such as smoking cessation programs, will also be made available through the vehicle.

“By offering several types of cancer screening services in one place, we will use the Connector to reach more people, encouraging community members to get multiple cancer screenings closer to where they live and to bring their friends and family to get screened, too,” said Ramzi Salloum, the Cancer Center’s associate director for community outreach and engagement.

“The Connector will foster meaningful relationships with rural community health providers, allowing UF Health to provide high-quality care beyond its walls.”