
Health for Good Van (Photo via ASK Wellness Society)
A new mobile clinic for people experiencing homelessness in the Kamloops-area is set to launch next week.
A partnership between TELUS and the ASK Wellness Society, the Health for Good clinic will bring primary health care and harm reduction services directly to people who are experiencing homelessness.
“Primary healthcare needs and addictions care will be the bulk of the services that we are providing within the clinic but we also have to recognize that we have two fixed sites where have nursing,” ASK Wellness CEO Bob Hughes said. “What we would imagine is that this is the place of first contact to engage people in a pathway into healthcare.”
“We’re literally ready to go with a full staffing complement. This fully staffed mobile clinic will be deployed into established locations with the support of community partners such as our shelter operators.”
Speaking on NL Newsday, Carly Johnston, a Senior Program Manager with TELUS Health for Good, says the new mobile clinic will benefit Kamloops, which has one of the highest rates of fatal overdoses per capita in British Columbia.
“We partner with organizations like Ask Wellness across Canada and provide a custom built mobile health clinic on wheels,” Johnston said.
“It’s built into a Mercedes Sprinter van and its a two-room full service clinic. We’ve got these clinics across Canada, and we’re super excited to announce that our newest partnership is here in Kamloops.”
Hughes says the Kamloops-based van, which will be staffed with a nurse and an outreach worker, will move around between areas like the West Victoria Corridor, the riverbanks in Valleyview, and areas of Sahali.
He also hopes to see the van head to Merritt once a month before the snow flies to address the needs in that community.
“A big part of it building relationships and trust with people and part of that is making sure when you say you’re going to be somewhere, you arrive at that time and you’re there for period of time that you say you would be, and you deliver the services,” Hughes said.
“We think we’re going to see probably four to five spots that we’ll see per week in regular pattern.”
Hughes says the mobile clinic will operate five days a week at a cost of about $350,000 a year. It’s expected to see around 4,000 visits each year, with plans to expand in the future.
“If we are right in our assessment of the needs, I think that we’ll be definitely wanting to look at expanding that,” Hughes said. “Obviously, we’ve got the resources to move ahead right now and any expansion will be us reaching out to other groups that want to participate.”
“We know that there is going to be a tremendous amount of support for our mobile health clinic and we’ll be tapping on some of our corporate and local partners in both the private and public sector to help bring more of an impact in the community.”