The Healthy Trucking Association of America and the Convenient Care Association announced plans to launch a nationwide initiative aimed at making high-quality health care more accessible and affordable for professional truck drivers. The joint HTAA and CCA initiative was announced at the Healthy Trucking Summit, taking place March 1-3 in Atlanta.
Through the partnership between CCA, the national trade association representing the retail-based health care industry, and HTAA, retail-based convenient care clinics nationwide will begin offering Department of Transportation exams, expanded medical treatments and wellness services designed for transportation industry employees. Of the 1,100 clinics in CCA’s membership, nearly 1,000 have committed to engage in the partnership to date.
“We are very pleased to be working with the CCA to bring these vital services to the professional driver community,” says Brett Blowers, HTAA spokesman. “The CCA has made a commitment to the HTAA and to our nation’s drivers to help their member clinics become very ‘trucker-friendly’ by providing ample truck parking and a number of new services designed especially for professional drivers and their families.”
“Located in retail stores like major pharmacies and large supermarkets, CCA clinics are much more accessible and affordable for drivers than traditional doctors’ offices or emergency rooms,” says Tine Hansen-Turton, CCA executive director. “Retail-based convenient care clinics provide a perfect venue for employees, and their families, to receive accessible, affordable high-quality services.”
Blowers says many CCA locations already have begun performing driver-specific services such as DOT exams and other services that appeal to drivers such as flu shots, smoking cessation programs and a number of health and wellness screenings. Health Promotion Solutions will be the organization coordinating the activities at CCA locations and the professional registry based on Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration clinical guidelines.
“We have met with government officials, fleets, and other trucking organizations who have expressed great interest in the clinics’ ability not only to identify and manage chronic disease risk but to support Compliance Safety Accountability Act 2010 federal guidelines through electronic medical records, standardized medical protocols and technology solutions to reach drivers while traveling on the road,” says Stewart Levy, president of Health Promotion Solutions.
