Access to health care is about to get easier for those who are most vulnerable in the community.
The Salvus Clinic has unveiled a vehicle which has been transformed into a mobile health clinic.
Executive director Melissa Baxter says the clinic will travel around Greater Moncton and can offer primary health care, addictions support and mental health care.
“We will plan to visit the local shelters and provide primary health care access there. We will go to tent encampments and other sites where individuals might not necessarily be able to access traditional health care.”
Baxter says the vehicle is essentially an ambulance with two rooms.
“One would be more like a physical exam room with an exam table and that type of medical supplies and the other room is more of a counselling room where we’ll be able to provide resources out in the community, perhaps get them on the N.B. housing list and connect them to other resources.”
The federal government is providing $663,000 to staff the mobile clinic which will include a nurse, social worker, two peer help navigators and an administrative support person.
To help purchase the vehicle at a cost of $225,000, contributions came from Medavie, the Saint John Human Development Council and other private donors.