What may look like a scaled down version of an 18-wheel truck is actually a mobile health unit serving thousands of people in the region at no cost.

A $300,000 gift to Western Kentucky University from Anthem Foundations Inc. has allowed the school to purchase its second mobile health unit in an effort to offer additional services to the dental assistance the first unit provides.

The university unveiled its second mobile health unit today at the Housing Authority of Bowling Green on Double Springs Road.

The funding will partially cover the salary of a nurse practitioner and medical supplies for the unit, which will travel the area and provide free immunizations and health screenings.

The unit will also provide students from the Institute for Rural Health Development and Research the opportunity to train in the community by focusing on influenza and pneumonia immunizations for senior adults. Students will also provide programs about diabetes and obesity management as well as heart disease prevention and smoking cessation.

“Our current health unit will now be dedicated to providing dental services to residents within the area,” said Lisa Durham, the institute’s director. “This second unit is important because it allows us to provide much more community service as well as allowing students to engage in the community.”

Durham said the unit consists of a waiting area with two exam rooms and a laboratory area. Unlike the first unit, which contains dental examination chairs, this unit has examination tables. It will also provide students an area to screen cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure and bone density.

Western’s first mobile unit was started in 2001 after the university received a federal grant for $670,000 to initiate the rural health program. That same year, it received an additional $500,000 as part of an $8.6 million congressional appropriation for Western.

When the program ran the first unit, Durham said it would travel within the 10-county Barren River Area Development District four days a week. Nursing students would provide free health screenings two days a week, while dental students would give free examinations and place sealant on elementary students’ teeth the other two days at no cost.

With the addition of the second unit, Durham said students will be able to provide health screenings four days a week in one truck while dental help is extended four days as well. She said the same area will be served at no cost to the communities.

Durham said the new unit will allow students to provide health screenings in a more efficient and effective way.

“Our goal is to provide educational opportunities for students and they can do this now outside of a typical clinical setting,” she said.

Deb Moessner, president and general manager of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, said the funding was given in an effort to improve Anthem’s State Health Index that was introduced last year.

Moessner said Kentucky has consistently been identified as one of the unhealthiest states in the country, and Anthem is getting involved to improve that.