Collier first in state to get Ronald McDonald Care Mobile

In the cool interior, children will see Hamburglar, Grimace and Birdie, familiar characters from the fast-food chain restaurant.

"The children will feel right at home," said Karen Parsley-Moran, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida Inc.

Collier County is becoming the first community in Florida -- and the 16th around the United States -- to receive a Ronald McDonald Care Mobile to help address the basic medical and dental-care needs of underprivileged children.

The mobile clinic on wheels is designed and built specifically to serve young children in two patient exam rooms, in a laboratory and reception/medical records area.

AT A GLANCE

The first Collier location Thursday is the Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology, 3702 Estey Ave. in East Naples, from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Later in the day, it will be stationed in the Winn-Dixie parking lot, Lake Trafford Road, in Immokalee from 1 to 4 p.m. The mobile clinic's other locations this weekend will be; -- Friday, Nov. 14, at the McDonald's franchise in the Parkshore Plaza, 4245 N. Tamiami Trail, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. -- Friday, Nov. 14, at Naples High School, 1100 Golden Eagle Circle, 5:30 to 10 p.m. -- Saturday, Nov. 15, Aviation Day, Naples Municipal Airport, 160 Aviation Drive North, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The national headquarters of the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Oak Brook, Ill., chose Collier to be the state's first recipient of one of the fully equipped mobile clinics, with a price tag of $400,000 that the national charity picking up.

The local chapter of the McDonald's charity, in conjunction with Children's Health Network in Collier, is responsible for operating costs estimated at $500,000 annually, Parsley-Moran said.

The health network involves countywide pediatric clinics whose parent organization is Collier Health Services Inc., CHSI, a private not-for-private company founded in 1977.

The mobile clinic will be ready to roll in Collier in late spring or early summer 2004, said Richard Akin, president and chief executive officer of CHSI. Some of its anticipated stops to see children are the Boys and Girls Club, day-care centers and schools.

So far, about $100,000 has been pledged for the first year's annual expenses, and grant applications and other sources of capital are being pursued, he said.

"We hoping to have the money or pledges by the beginning of the year," he said.

To date, local McDonald's franchise owners have pledged $25,000 a year for five years, the Rural Health Network, a consortium of rural medical providers in Collier, has pledged a one-time $50,000, and Children's Medical Services has pledged a one-time $30,000, he said.

A prototype of what Collier's mobile clinic will look like will be on display today at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and in Collier on Thursday and during the weekend.

The mobile clinic will serve children in Collier only; the hope is that Lee County will get its own in due course, Parsley-Moran said.

The first Collier location Thursday is the Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology, 3702 Estey Ave. in East Naples, from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Later in the day, it will be stationed in the Winn-Dixie parking lot, Lake Trafford Road, in Immokalee from 1 to 4 p.m.

An advisory committee of civic leaders, social welfare representatives and health-care officials united this past spring to examine the feasibility of getting one of the mobile clinics to Collier, Akin said. The group is working on figures regarding how many children could be served each year.

The annual operating cost includes the cost of fuel and staffing, anticipated to be three people who would be employees of CHSI, he said. The mobile clinic's time will be divided between providing basic primary and dental care, he said.

The national McDonald's charity began the mobile clinic program in 2000 and Collier's vehicle will be the 16th being launched in a community, following on the heels of locales such as Chicago, Houston, and Madison, Wis. The goal is to have 40 mobile clinics in communities by 2005.

"We are so excited," Parsley-Moran, of the local chapter, said of Collier being the first in the state to be selected. "It took a lot of people and a lot of commitment."

The mobile clinic's other locations this weekend will be;

-- Friday, Nov. 14, at the McDonald's franchise in the Parkshore Plaza, 4245 N. Tamiami Trail, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

-- Friday, Nov. 14, at Naples High School, 1100 Golden Eagle Circle, 5:30 to 10 p.m.

-- Saturday, Nov. 15, Aviation Day, Naples Municipal Airport, 160 Aviation Drive North, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.