Understand your Mission and Vision! Understand the WHY behind your project!

The MU Extension Mobile Health Unit desired to help people understand their health conditions before they found themselves in difficult situations. The connection between pre-existing health conditions and negative outcomes from COVID-19 inspired this project.

Infection leads to millions of deaths worldwide and the mortality rate is found to be greatly associated with pre-existing clinical conditions. Existing data strongly suggests that cardiometabolic diseases including hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes and obesity serve as strong comorbidities in coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Severe complication of COVID-19 is mostly seen in people with compromised medical history (Gupta, Marzook, Ahmad, 2022).

Anecdotal reports from area hospitals indicate that comorbidities including diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension are often undiagnosed when patients present with symptoms of severe COVID, thereby complicating their clinical treatment and compromising their outcomes.

In addition, influenza (flu) is a serious health concern in adults with certain chronic health conditions, including heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes. These individuals are at increased risk of flu-related complications and exacerbation of underlying disease, even when the condition is well-controlled, due to the effects of flu-related inflammation that may occur long after acute infection. Learn more here, A Call To Action.

How can you help inform your community? Explore these resources:

Mobile Health Unit Resources & Packet Contents

Locate Vaccine Resources in your region here.

Explore CDC training here.

Resources:

Gupta A, Marzook H, Ahmad F. Comorbidities and clinical complications associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection: an overview. Clin Exp Med. 2022 Apr 1:1–19. doi: 10.1007/s10238-022-00821-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35362771; PMCID: PMC8972750.