Adolescent medicine specialist Seth Ammerman, MD, stands in front of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford's new Teen Health Van, which made its official debut Oct. 20 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in East Palo Alto. The van is where Ammerman now runs his free, mobile clinic serving homeless and uninsured Bay Area youth. (The previous van had been in operation since Ammerman founded the program in 1996.)
Supported by grants and equipment from the Children's Health Fund and Samsung, as well as other donor gifts, the new van's two exam rooms are equipped with technology for video chats between patients and specialists at other locations, and Samsung tablets loaded with interactive health information to help doctors explain patients' diagnoses and medications. "I am very excited about our new mobile medical unit," said Ammerman, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine. "This will allow us to continue to provide outstanding comprehensive primary care to underserved youth."