Women's Wellness on Wheels (WOW) Bus Program

Abstract

The IU Center of Excellence (COE) a program of the IU School of Medicine and the Department of OBGYN, is designed to convene partners in the state toward the fulfillment of our mission and vision, in improving the health of Indiana women. The Women's Wellness on Wheels (WOW) Bus Program is a mechanism utilized statewide to provide health education and screenings targeted to rural and underserved Indiana women. Through this community outreach, WOW is designed to drive more women into local health care, encouraging them to build relationships with providers close to their homes, thereby creating the patient-provider partnership required for optimum health. Inclusive in the WOW Bus Program is our education/training component, by which health care students learn about the challenges in finding local health care and resources for diverse communities. In this way we hope to increase the number of health care providers considering practice in rural and underserved communities and forge partnerships between women and their local communities to address women's health issues at the local level.