Kaylee Meyers, a medical student at Central Maine Medical Center Family Medicine Residency, takes the blood pressure of Aubin Moubamba on Friday afternoon in Kennedy Park in Lewiston during the Clinic in the Community event. Several dozen medical students, faculty and resident physicians participated. Moubamba is a Lewiston resident who recently arrived from Congo and speaks French. The two communicated using their phones and a language translation app. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Local health care workers set up in Kennedy Park on Friday to provide people information about health care and offering free blood pressure checks, sugar readings and other services.

Clinic in the Community is a joint effort of Central Maine Medical Center, Healthy Androscoggin and Maine Family Planning to provide community outreach, according to Bethany Picker, Central Maine Medical Center program director at the Family Medicine Residency. It also allows CMMC doctors doing their residency a chance to get to know the community.

Some community members stopped on their way to the city pool, others sought help for specific reasons, such as foot care. Some of the roughly 25 CMMC faculty and providers had to make trips back to the hospital to get supplies to treat specific ailments, Picker said.

For Dr. Jack Ritzo, who is beginning the third year of his residency through CMMC, it was a good way to connect people with medical resources, he said. They were able to help one person with diabetes get an appointment with a primary care physician. He chose to do his residency in Maine to gain experience in rural health care.

“It’s just nice that we’re creating that bridge today, even if it’s just for a few people,” he said.

He said he wants people to feel comfortable interacting with health care providers, even if it is not for a specific concern. The clinic is a good place to help steer people’s health care.

“This is a very approachable group,” he said. “So if you ever see us out here, I hope you’ll at least stop by and say ‘hi’ and if you have any questions, ask and if we can help in some way we’d love to.”

Though the clinic is meant to serve anyone in the community, it can be particularly beneficial to those who do not have access to health care, Picker said.

It was Maine Family Planning’s christening event for its new mobile exam room, which is also equipped with a lift for accessibility, according to Evelyn Kieltyka, senior vice president of Program Services. There is also an intake area and lab in the vehicle. As of 3 p.m. Friday, its providers had performed five cervical exams.

Maine Family Planning rolled out its new mobile exam room for the first time Friday afternoon in Kennedy Park during the Clinic in the Community in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“If someone came along and said ‘oh gosh, I haven’t had a pap smear in 10 years,’ we’d say, ‘we’re ready to see you, come on in,’” she said. “… Imagine walking into a doctor’s office — it’s exactly what is in a doctor’s office.”

For some people who have had bad experiences or felt stigmatized in certain health care settings, the mobile exam room is a good place to give them care, she said. There are several types of tests for sexually transmitted diseases that can be performed, along with the capability to draw blood for testing later. Providers can also screen for cervical cancer.

“What I love about it is particularly when you are going to places where people have felt discriminated by the health care system or stigmatized, if I can bring this really elegant unit and they can walk in and feel like ‘wow, I’m really being seen by a real office,’ and that’s the goal,” she said.

Some people living in the most rural or remote towns in Maine cannot drive great distances to seek preventative care in larger municipalities, she said. Family Planning providers will be able to take the vehicle to those rural places and give people free access to preventative care. The biggest risk for cervical cancer is not getting screened, according to Kieltyka.

Family Planning hopes to start taking the mobile exam room to places in western Maine soon, Kieltyka said.

It is CMMC’s goal to participate and host similar clinics in the future, Picker said. She encourages people to attend them, even if they feel apprehensive to approach the providers.

She would tell people to “take your time, come when they feel safe,” she said. “… We are here to serve the community, whether it’s here in the park or people come to our office, and we’re a nonjudgmental, safe place to come for whatever care is needed.”