When Kyleigh Carter gave birth at 37 weeks pregnant, her son weighed 5 pounds, a low birth weight as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since she received services at the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile in Evansville during her pregnancy, she kept visiting the clinic on wheels for her child’s care.
“I was able to go weekly to get his weight checked out to make sure he was still gaining weight appropriately, because he still struggles to gain weight,” Carter said. “It’s hard to get into [obstetrics offices] these days because they’re so packed. I’d have to wait more than a week, maybe two to three weeks.”
Her son is now over 15 pounds at 9 months old.
The Evansville bus is one of two Care Mobiles in Indiana that visit underserved neighborhoods and deliver free services mostly to people without insurance or on Medicaid to reduce barriers to accessing health care. The other is in Fort Wayne.
While the Evansville clinic targets women of childbearing age, pregnant women, postpartum mothers and infants up to 12 months, the Fort Wayne Care Mobile offers pediatric services for children up to 18 years of age. Both operate four days per week.
Nearly one in four people in Allen and Vanderburgh counties are on Medicaid, according to state data. But with Medicaid enrollment on the decline in Indiana because of eligibility and noncompliance factors, both programs expect the mobile clinics to play an even greater role in helping uninsured patients overcome hurdles to health care.
“We are seeing higher rates than ever of children who do not have health insurance,” said Sarah GiaQuinta, senior vice president of community impact at Parkview Health, the system that partners with RMHC of Northeast Indiana to operate the Care Mobile in Fort Wayne. “These [Medicaid] changes will make services like the Care Mobile more critical to make sure that everybody gets the care that they deserve.”
Since the Care Mobiles launched in their region, each clinic has slightly pivoted from its original mission or methods to meet patient needs. However, the units share a common goal in serving as an entry point for patients to establish long-term health care.
“People feel cared for. They feel seen,” GiaQuinta said. “It can be challenging if you’re uninsured to get into a medical practice. People are grateful that we have this service.”
Evansville
The Evansville Care Mobile, which is a collaboration between Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley and Deaconess Women’s Hospital, began operating in Vanderburgh County in 2025. Though the RMHC clinics usually focus on children, stakeholders aiming to eliminate infant mortality in high-need zip codes wanted the mobile unit to serve women as well.
In 2024, the U.S. had 5.52 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Indiana’s infant mortality rate was higher at 6.3, while Vanderburgh County’s rate was lower at 3.8, a significant drop from 8.4 in 2023.
“If we can have healthy pregnancies and healthy moms, we can have healthy babies,” said LaRissa Madison, program coordinator and registered nurse at Deaconess Women’s Hospital.
The Care Mobile offers blood pressure screenings, pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, lactation support and infant weight checks. Carter learned about the clinic through Facebook and visited the unit at a nonprofit’s weekly food giveaway when she was 14 weeks pregnant.
“I went to get blood pressure checks because I was high risk with having high blood pressure,” she said.
Patients may also receive free supplies, such as diapers, milk storage bags, and breast pumps. Plus, social services are available on the bus, with connections to mental health resources, home-visiting programs, WIC, OBs and other physicians.
“Some people will come on, just finding out they’re pregnant,” she said. “They’re like, ‘I don’t have a doctor. Where do I go from here?’ We get them connected to care, referred to a primary care provider if they don’t have one, or an OB. I’ve even helped someone find out where to get glasses before.”
From August 2025 to June 2026, the Evansville Care Mobile served nearly 750 clients at more than 150 site visits. Carter is one of more than a dozen mothers who have returned for care after giving birth.
“There’s a level of trust that they have in us,” Madison said. “That makes them comfortable to come back and see us, even if it’s just to talk about how they feel or what’s been going on with them.”
Late this summer, Madison and Dunlap adapted their maternal health services after losing their Care Mobile driver, who is required to have a commercial driver’s license. Using another vehicle for transportation and wagons for supplies, the pair began delivering care to neighborhoods on the south side of Evansville — an area the bus can’t access because of low-hanging trees and utility wires and narrow streets.
“Not having a driver has been a blessing in disguise because it opened up our eyes to the potential of what more we can do,” Madison said. “We’ve been able to bring all of our supplies … I’ve even done a pregnancy test out in the field.”
Fort Wayne
The RMHC Care Mobile in Fort Wayne has been rolling across the region since 2018. GiaQuinta said the clinic’s early focus was also to reduce infant mortality in zip codes with high rates, serving children up to age 5. As of 2024, the infant mortality rate was 7.0 in Allen County.
“The initial idea was, ‘How can we have this unit come alongside to do well-child care, vaccines, prevention for some of our youngest?’” she said. “But over time, we saw that some of our highest-need populations were adolescents.”
Today, about half of the patients served by the bus in the city and surrounding areas are 10 to 19 years old, according to GiaQuinta.
“The unit is so big, it’s hard for us to go more than an hour away from home, based on the size [of the bus] and the amount of time it takes to get there,” she said. “But we try to fit the need. When there are requests, we do whatever we can to get to see those populations.”
The team partners with school systems and organizations to provide well-child exams, immunizations, screenings, sports physicals, acute care testing, fluoride treatments, and childhood health and safety education. For long-term care, GiaQuinta stressed that the clinic refers patients to any provider that accepts their insurance if they have health care coverage.
“It’s a nice first step to being able to connect with somebody within the medical community,” she said.
The bus serves about 1,000 children annually, with nearly 4,800 visits since 2018.
Stakeholders believe that the unit’s services help patients facing various obstacles to care.
“It has been so impactful being able to be in those places for families who have transportation or work schedule or insurance concerns,” said Kiki Hunter-Davis, community nursing manager at Parkview Health.
The Fort Wayne Care Mobile is also momentarily without a driver.
Down the road
Both Care Mobiles plan to get moving again soon. Pending grant funding, the Evansville team wants to keep two units in circulation: one providing indoor urban care and another taking the bus to rural areas.
“We know the need is there, and we’re willing to do whatever we are able to do to meet the need,” Madison said.
For now, the Care Mobile team in Evansville is looking forward to a few patients celebrating first birthdays, an indicator of success in the effort to prevent infant loss.
“We’re hitting that one-year mark, and we’re helping these families and babies meet that milestone,” Madison said. “The community has embraced this big blue bus, and now they’re figuring out what it is and why we’re out here.”
If you’d like to support the Care Mobiles, the Evansville unit maintains an Amazon wishlist for donations. The Fort Wayne clinic welcomes individual and corporate donations.
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Mitizi S. Morris is an FPI News freelance contributor. You can reach her at mitzismorris@gmail.com.
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