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Retired OBGYN, Dr. Todd Kopczynski and wife, Barbara, were inspired to bring women’s care services directly to underserved communities in the greater Charlotte area.
This story was originally written by Atrium Health
Atrium Health is improving equity of care and addressing the growing maternal mortality rates by providing women’s health services with a new mobile care unit, the Drive to Thrive Initiative.
Inspired by his career as an OBGYN, Dr. Todd Kopczynski and his wife, Barbara, thought a mobile care unit would be a solution to reach expecting mothers and offer care services in the underserved areas of Charlotte. When Dr. Kopczynski retired, he and Barbara approached Atrium Health with the idea. Together, they worked with Farber Specialty Vehicles to design a bus. In January 2023, Drive to Thrive launched.
“The way it changes lives in so many of the people that we reach, there are people who either can’t afford or don’t have the way to get to a place where they can get good care. And this is a way to try to bring health care to their neighborhoods so that it’s something they can easily get to,” said Dr. Kopczynski.
Drive to Thrive offers a variety of services including first-time prenatal care, post-partum care, contraception including implants and IUDs, ultrasounds, cancer and STI screenings, and mammogram referrals. The mobile unit travels to seven community locations throughout Charlotte, Huntersville and Monroe bi-weekly.
Dr. Kopczynski and Dr. Suzanna Fox, Atrium Health’s Deputy Chief Physician Executive and Southeast Service Line Leader of Women’s Health, say community partnerships and word-of-mouth help raise awareness of their resources.
“We’ve been very intentional about creating relationships with community partners such as pastors of certain churches in areas where people have trusted members of the community. By creating that trust, we are hoping that the patients who ordinarily wouldn’t come see us would be more comfortable and come to see us on the bus,” said Dr. Fox.
Atrium Health is committed to creating equity of care within historically marginalized and underserved communities. An initiative like Drive to Thrive is helping Atrium Health address several statistics impacting North Carolina.
North Carolina ranks 11th in infant mortality nationally according to NC Department of Administration’s Council for Women and Youth Involvement. About 1 in 10 newborns in the state are born premature, and that statistic nearly doubles for Black infants compared to other races and ethnicities. Undocumented women in North Carolina deliver more than 10,000 babies annually, but many avoid care due to fear of deportation.
While Drive to Thrive is already making a difference in the lives of women, Dr. Kopczynski believes more patients will seek out services as reproductive health changes in North Carolina. As a donor and volunteer care provider, he hopes to add more buses and team members to his fleet to expand care throughout North Carolina.
More information on Drive to Thrive’s location and schedule can be found here.
Photo courtesy of Atrium Health.
