Taking health care services to rural PA

Mobile health units, like the Rendu Services van, are one way of bringing basic health care to some of those underserved regions. The service, a mission of the Daughters of Charity, is named for Sister Rosalie Rendu, an 18th-century French nun who devoted her life to the poor.

The group’s offices are located in a former grocery story at Pechin Shopping Village, in Dunbar, but much of its work is done in post offices and other community settings.

The Rendu nuns, three of them nurses, steer the decorated, 24-foot van to 15 Fayette County sites each month, in addition to stops at health fairs and other community events. They take blood pressure readings, offer nutrition information and lend a trained ear when people describe their symptoms — all free of charge. Sometimes they refer patients to a doctor or clinic.