(Radio Iowa) – A non-profit is launched a mobile clinic, dubbed a suitcase clinic, in central Iowa that’s designed to fill in maternal care gaps for under- and uninsured people. EveryStep sends a nurse to community spaces like human services agencies, food banks and faith-based centers to provide free care. Becky Borgman is the maternal and reproductive health director at EveryStep. She says the clinic was developed in response to a growing need for care.

“Especially as we see more and more clinics and hospital and OB units closing,” Borgman says, “but clinics are also struggling, as well as there’s shortages.” She says the nurse can provide birth control and sexually-transmitted infection support, but the options go beyond just direct care.  Borgman says, “It’s connecting them to a doula, connecting them to a nurse or a case manager who can come to that house regularly, or connecting them to Medicaid when they didn’t know they qualified.” She says they can also do other services like lead testing in children and referrals to dentists and primary care physicians.

The suitcase clinic operates in Polk, Dallas, Madison and Warren counties.