Thrive Alabama
The Mobile Specialty vehicles team recently had the opportunity to deliver and unveil a new truck that will be sued by Thrive Alabama to serve more people living with STDs and HIV.
“One out of every four people tested for HIV don’t even come back for their results,” Thrive Community Liason Eldred Thomas said. Our team wants to help change this heartbreaking statistic, and the partnership with Thrive is the first step toward providing better, faster, and more accurate results to those that need them.
Thrive hopes to expand their service network by taking the clinic on the road. The truck that Mobile Specialty Vehicles built to meet this need costs about $400,000. Thrive organizers say they raised the money they needed to pay for it in about two years. The money came from corporate sponsors, partnerships, donations, and successful fundraisers. This top-of-the-line vehicle is equipped with the necessary equipment to provide testing to those that need it, no matter where they live!
According to Rocket City Now, Southern states have the highest rate of HIV in the country, and Huntsville groups are working to change that.
The South accounts for more than half of the HIV diagnoses nationwide, according to the CDC. Experts with Thrive Alabama say lack of education and HIV testing in rural areas is a big part of what’s holding Alabama back. Their solution is a mobile testing unit to bring services to people. They hope to be able to provide testing to more individuals who need the testing but may not be able to otherwise afford or find the care that they need.
Alabama has a lower rate compared to some surrounding states, but it’s not low enough for the people at the Thrive mobile unit event!
“Sometimes there’s a lot of stigma with getting help,” said Mary Elizabeth Marr, CEO of Thrive Alabama. “But also it’s just the fact that healthcare is really not available in the rural areas like we have here in Huntsville.”
See the delivery captured by WHNT19 below.
For more information in Thrive Alabama, please visit https://thrivealabama.org
To discover how you can get your own HIV and STD mobile testing unit, you can contact the team at Mobile Specialty Vehicles. We also provide a wide range of other mobile units that can be equipped to meet almost any medical needs you or your community may have. Learn more now!