'I’d be dead right now': Londoner says mobile health clinic saved her life
'I’d be dead right now': Londoner says mobile health clinic saved her life
Tammy St. Denis believes a mobile outreach program saved her life.
“If it wasn't for this bus, I probably would be dead right now,” said St. Denis, a recovering addict and former homeless Londoner.
In 2021 she started seeing professionals at London Intercommunity Health Centre (LIHC), and her life has turned around. She's now housed, but still needs medical care.
Each Tuesday she has an assessment at the Health Outreach Mobile Engagement (HOME) Program which is a mobile clinic. HOME provides health services to people wherever they happen to be — shelters, encampments, housing, and in other community settings.
“I get…my blood pressure taken,” said St. Denis. “She [a nurse practitioner] prescribes my medication for me to help me get off the drugs completely, which is working fantastic.”
The retro-fitted bus parks outside First Baptist Church on Tuesdays, then heads to the east end on Thursdays.
Over the past year they’ve seen more than 1,000 unique clients, and prevented nearly 1,200 trips to the emergency room.
The HOME mobile outreach bus is parked outside First Baptist Church in London, Ont. on Jan. 31, 2023 (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
“We're seeing folks today with frostbite wounds that are worse because of the cold and the damp and unable to get services other places,” explained Greg Nash, director of complex urban health at the LIHC. “This is a place where they feel comfortable. It’s a place where they're able to access urgent and significant health care needs.”
The bus can provide all the same services as their local clinic.
“A lot of the folks that we see have very limited access to health care for various reasons,” said Brandi Tapp, the nurse practitioner on the bus. “Everything from exposure injuries like frostbite and hypothermia, to long standing chronic care issues, from diabetes untreated to COPD.”
The program started during the COVID-19 pandemic, but since then the homeless population in London has gone from 150 to more than 600. There are plans to add a second bus.
“We're going to them because it's hard for them to get anywhere when they're carrying all their belongings,” said Nash.
The HOME mobile outreach bus is a clinic which travels around London, Ont. to provide health care to marginalized Londoners (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
Nash added, “When their belongings are in a tent, they're unsecured. So this is a way for us to go to them so that we can provide those basic needs, those medical services and really emergency services that many of them require because of the circumstances.”
St. Denis said when attending the clinic, it’s best to be honest because it’s the best way to get exactly what you need.
“A lot of addicts and homeless people are afraid to go to the hospitals because of being judged,” said St. Denis. “When you come here, you don't get judged. Just be straight up honest with the doctor.”
The bus delivers multiple health services two days a week. Three days a week, a SUV will be deployed to assist the HOME team in providing care to clients.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the vote later today on the Conservative motion calling for a new study into foreign interference will not be a confidence vote.
Gwyneth Paltrow's trial is set to begin on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing in Utah at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and to mark the occasion a Canadian organization launched a campaign showcasing older people living with the condition.
A Virginia teacher who was shot and wounded by her 6-year-old student said it has changed her life and she has vivid memories and nightmares about that day.
While the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the issues surrounding Credit Suisse have shaken investor confidence, a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis appears to be unlikely, one analyst says.
Several parents are questioning the filtering process of eBooks available to students at the Waterloo Regional District School Board (WRDSB) after they say their children were able to access eBooks that are not age appropriate.
Market trends in Simcoe County show an increase in viewings and buyers re-entering the market after key interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada warded off many last year.
Gwyneth Paltrow's trial is set to begin on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing in Utah at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States.
Three misdemeanour charges were filed Monday against the son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere after a video posted on social media showed him and another Mercyhurst University athlete pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase.
A member of the city of Ottawa's board of health is speaking out about body shaming after receiving a letter that said she shouldn't serve on the board because of her weight.
A 31-year-old neuroscientist is believed to be among the six people missing after a massive fire in Old Montreal last week. An Wu was staying at the heritage building on Place d'Youville to attend a conference, according to friends and family.
Rescuers have yet to recover any additional bodies from the wreck of a fire in Old Montreal last week. As of Tuesday morning, there were still six people missing. The body of one victim, a woman, was extracted on Sunday.
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is scheduled to table the first budget of the Coalition Avenir Québec's second mandate this afternoon. Girard broke with tradition on Monday — instead of buying new shoes ahead of the budget, he announced a $5,000 donation to a Quebec City community centre.
New Brunswick's finance minister is scheduled to table a provincial budget Tuesday as the government grapples with problems in health care and housing and the effects of a population surge.
Two staff members and a student -- who is also the suspect -- have been injured in a stabbing at a high school in Bedford, N.S., according to the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE).
The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) is weighing in after two staff members and a student, who is also the suspect, were injured in a stabbing at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
Students and community members will gather in protest outside the Calgary Board of Education Centre Tuesday morning, calling for the removal of the Sir John A. Macdonald name from a northwest junior high school.
A Wheatland County sanctuary that cares for abandoned and surrendered farm animals faces an uncertain future after having a permit application to keep operating denied.
A woman who lives across from the apartment where a 16-year-old shot and killed two Edmonton police constables has multiple bullet holes in her door, with a couple piercing her doorframe.
After a large fire spread from tents to a shuttered theatre on the city’s Downtown Eastside, Vancouver’s fire chief told reporters she was “incredibly frustrated” that more isn’t being done to prevent daily fires breaking out in the area.
Vancouver council will soon vote on a policy that could slow development in the Broadway Plan, one of the most significant long-term projects underway in the city.
The HOME mobile outreach bus is parked outside First Baptist Church in London, Ont. on Jan. 31, 2023 (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
The HOME mobile outreach bus is a clinic which travels around London, Ont. to provide health care to marginalized Londoners (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
