Medical outreach service for vulnerable residents in Okanagan up and running

Medical services are now disposable to meet nan needs of susceptible Central Okanagan residents wherever they live.

For nan past 5 weeks Interior Health has rolled retired its Integrated Health Outreach team, besides known arsenic I-Hot. The aesculapian van equipped pinch supplies, outreach workers and aesculapian professionals has arrived connected nan doorsteps of group successful precarious situations.

“What we’re trying to do is span nan spread for health-care entree to individuals experiencing homelessness, aliases surviving successful non-traditional lodging settings, for illustration nan caller mini homes,” said Emma Guerrero Mohajir, objective operations head for Outreach Urban Health.

“We’re trying to bring mobile responsive wellness attraction to nan Central Okanagan, 7 days a week, to really effort and support individual wellness outcomes.”

While it’s not a caller conception successful larger municipality centres, it’s nan first of its benignant successful nan Okanagan. Before this, Interior Health had Outreach Urban Health successful downtown Kelowna, wherever 1 aliases 2 nurses were disposable astatine immoderate fixed time.

With nan caller van, work capacity has doubled and anyone from West Kelowna to Lake Country experiencing homelessness aliases surviving successful non-traditional lodging settings tin get support.

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“If there’s personification retired location that looks sick and needs help, we will respond and bring them in,” she said.

“Then we besides person a schedule, truthful we’re hitting locations geographically passim nan Central Okanagan. Every day, we spell to different areas to make judge individuals cognize we’re going to beryllium location astatine that time.”

The KGH Foundation played a large domiciled successful rolling retired this initiative.

“With nan support of our donors successful this community, we were successful a position to lend $260,000 to nan acquisition of nan van,” Allison Young from nan KGH Foundation said.

“Caring organization is simply a pillar for us. Of people we support, pinch our donors, excellence successful our infirmary and that will ever beryllium important … but nan much support we tin supply for group successful organization – it really has a tremendous affirmative use to our hospital”