Lowell Public Schools, UMass Lowell and Lowell Community Health Center Collaborate to Deliver Care to Kids
05/12/2025
Media contacts: David Joyner, senior director, communications and digital media and Nancy Cicco, assistant director of media relations
LOWELL, Mass. – For families with limited transportation and busy schedules, getting to the doctor’s office for routine checkups can be a challenge.
To bring care directly to Lowell children, Lowell Public Schools, UMass Lowell’s Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences and the Lowell Community Health Center joined forces to launch a Mobile Health Unit. The “clinic on wheels” travels to Lowell community schools, providing K-12 students with access to services such as checkups, sick visits and vaccinations.
At a Mobile Health Unit ribbon cutting at the Greenhalge Elementary School on May 5, local officials celebrated the launch of the community initiative.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with our community partners to meet children where they are, breaking down barriers to care while providing experiences for our health sciences students,” said UMass Lowell’s Mary Gallant, dean of the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences.
Lowell Public Schools Superintendent Liam Skinner praised the power of the partnership.
“In Lowell, this is what we do,” Skinner said. “We join together to find solutions to difficult problems. Thank you to everyone who made the Mobile Health Unit possible for our children and their families.”
Outfitted with two private exam rooms, a vaccination and blood collection area, and equipment to monitor vital signs, the Mobile Health Unit is staffed by Lowell Community Health Center licensed health care providers and community health workers. The unit will be a setting for career-connected experiences for UMass Lowell students. Students in the Solomont School of Nursing will earn clinical hours by assisting in delivering care, and students from all majors will collaborate to provide workshops that promote healthy living in areas such as nutrition, stress management and physical activity.
Susan Levine, CEO of the Lowell Community Health Center, said her team was exploring ways to expand school-based health care beyond their clinics at Lowell High School and Stoklosa Middle School when she learned UMass Lowell had a Mobile Health Unit and was looking for community partners.
“On day one, our team was delivering vaccines and helping families connect to primary care,” Levine said. “That’s the kind of access this mobile unit makes possible. Students can step into the unit, get the care they need, and return to class – healthy and ready to learn. We are grateful to UMass Lowell and Lowell Public Schools for helping to turn this vision into a reality.”
UMass Lowell’s Nicole Champagne, Zuckerberg College associate dean for academic affairs, worked closely with faculty and partners to bring health services to the children and youth of Lowell.
“We always had this vision that we’d use the Mobile Health Unit to travel to places where people are in need and immerse our students in community care,” Champagne said. “I’m grateful to all my colleagues and partners who united for the common good of our community.”