During a recent stop at a major truck stop on Interstate 90 in upstate New York, I was pleasantly surprised to see a small driver health display incorporating a map of a walking track around the location. But that was the extent of it. A small picture on a wall near the entrance before unhealthy food choices tempts drivers.
Truck driver health is a serious issue, and one major truckstop chain wrestles with it continually. Healthy food choices are, of course, just part of the solution, albeit a critical one on the road to good health. Talk to truckers, and they’ll often tell you one of the significant challenges is getting good care when sick.
Sounds simple. For most, it’s as easy as making an appointment at a local clinic and driving there. But think about how you’d get time off or where you would park a loaded 75-foot-long big rig, assuming you could even get close to the doctor’s clinic.
Help is on the way, though
A new urgent and primary care clinic has been established in Racine, WI, at the PETRO Truckstop at exit #333 on I-94, just south of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and north of Chicago. The clinic will serve commercial drivers who frequent the Racine PETRO, local communities, and travelers needing quality healthcare services.
Making healthcare accessible to truckers without interfering with their work is the brainchild of Interstate Health. This innovative, technology-enabled medical services company provides urgent care, primary care, and telemedicine services along the nation’s interstate highway system.
Interstate Health Racine is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) and offers primary care, urgent care, and occupational health services. This includes Department of Transportation (DoT) and pre-employment physicals, preventative care and wellness visits, vaccines, medication management, and more. Interstate Health’s website contains a complete list of services and contact information.
Interstate Health launched in November 2022 with significant backing from veteran transportation and logistics executives. Since launching last year, the company has acquired a clinic in Cookeville, Tenn., and it broke ground on a greenfield clinic in Port Wentworth, Ga., which is expected to open this year. The company has a three-phase rollout plan and plans to launch 300 facilities within the next six years based on data analysis (truck route density, travel center capacity, residential demographics, etc.) and the formation of strategic partnerships.
