AZ donates $125,000 to help Delaware’s uninsured

A mobile medical center designed to help treat the homeless and uninsured in Wilmington will be expanding its services thanks to a major donation from AstraZeneca.

A mobile medical van that helps the homeless and uninsured in Wilmington get access to medical care will be able to extend its hours thanks to a $125,000 donation from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The St. Clare Van, operated by St. Francis Hospital, will expand coverage in the city to five days a week.  Van medical director Dr. Oswaldo Nicastro says the expanded hours will help the van serve more of the most needy on Wilmington’s streets.  “Without this service, thousands of people in our community would lack basic medical care, and would rely on our emergency departments and our urgent care centers for their needs, obviously at a greater cost to them and to the institutions that treat them.”  Nicastro says the van will make two stops every day it’s running.  Those stops will be in strategic locations where there is a higher percentage of uninsured people.

AstraZeneca vice president for corporate affairs David Nicoli says the company’s donation represents the its belief that a healthier world is not achieved through medicine or doctors or nurses alone.  Nicoli says, “It comes about through a collaboration and a shared commitment.  In this case, helping good people without health insurance get access to the programs and services they need.”  Over the last several years, the company has committed more than $600,000 to outreach and charity care programs at St. Francis Hospital.