PEOIRA, Ill. (WMBD) — A local non-profit is providing greater access to preventive health services.
On Tuesday, Central Illinois Friends cut the ceremonial ribbon for their new mobile health unit, alongside Peoria Mayor Dr. Rita Ali and Police Chief Eric Echevarria.
The organization provides free STI, STD, and HIV testing. Central Illinois Friends also offers free HPV vaccinations, and PrEP, which is a medicine used to prevent the contraction of HIV.
Central Illinois Friends has clinics in Bloomington and Peoria, and leaders said the mobile unit will allow them to better reach people where they are.
“We cover a 15-county radius and although we have a clinic here in Peoria and a clinic in Bloomington, it doesn’t mean that everyone can access it,” said Deric Kimler, executive director of Central Illinois Friends. “There’s a lot of different barriers that may occur. This mobile unit is going to get rid of the barrier of transportation.”
The group raised $225,000 to purchase the mobile unit. Kimler said the unit will hit the road at the beginning of next year.
