Varsha Bhatt took a leisurely walk in the park near the Jewish General Hospital recently. She walked away with healthcare advice and a vaccine against tetanus.
Mrs. Bhatt was simply out for a stroll with her daughter on a sunny weekday afternoon, when she came across a hard-to-miss sight in Martin Luther King Park: A flapping beach flag, a bright white tent and the friendly staff from the Mobile Clinic from CIUSSS West-Central Montreal. Curious, Mrs. Bhatt asked for information and found out she was eligible to get vaccinated.
In short order, she registered and received a shot from the capable hands of Nurse Clinician Marie-Thérèse Nganchou—all of it without Mrs. Bhatt ever crossing the threshold of a clinic or hospital door.
“It was easy and people were very nice,” Mrs. Bhatt said as she sat in a comfortable chair on the grass.
“I was able to get a lot of information. I’m very pleased.”
Varsha Bhatt
Setting up a clinic in a city park is one of the most striking examples of how the Frontline Directorate’s mobile team is taking healthcare delivery beyond the walls of traditional healthcare institutions and directly to the population it serves.
The team offers care in dozens of sites in the community, from mosques to food banks, universities to homeless shelters. But perhaps the most high-profile locations are city parks in the CIUSSS coverage area. Easy-to-access and convivial, these clinics al fresco make accessing health care as easy as a walk in the park.
“Parks give us privileged access to the community we serve,” says Marie Nancy Romain, the Program Manager who oversees Frontline’s mobile clinics.
“We try to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Our goal is to be close to people.”
Marie Nancy Romain, Program Manager
The outdoor clinics help connect our CIUSSS professionals with the richly diverse population of the CIUSSS, many of them newcomers to Canada or other vulnerable residents who may not know how to access healthcare. Parks are popular gathering spots for those living in densely populated neighbourhoods such as Côte-des-Neiges and Parc Extension, which lie in our CIUSSS coverage area.
“I like reaching people who wouldn’t go to conventional sites,” Nurse Hélène Binette said at the outdoor site.
“People tell us they feel like they’re being heard. That contact with the public means a lot to me.”
Nurse Hélène Binette
The set-up one afternoon in July in Martin Luther King Park—formerly known as Kent Park—was inviting and informal. Next to a Mobile Clinic beach flag perched along the sidewalk on Côte-des-Neiges Road, a sandwich board listed services available for eligible patients, such as vaccines against measles, meningitis or shingles. Lambert Awasso, a Service Aide sporting a bright yellow safety vest, approached passersby with a warm smile, informing them about the care being offered on the spot.
“A lot of people have trouble accessing a family doctor these days, so we can help resolve their problems,” Mr. Awasso says. “They’re very grateful.”
Our CIUSSS’s mobile clinics were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic as a means of vaccinating at-risk individuals in the community. Since their introduction in July 2021, the team has visited 172 sites and administered more than 37,000 vaccines.
These clinics endure today as one of the positive legacies of the crisis.
“We’re always innovating—seeking out new clients, new sites and new services,” says Ms. Romain, Chief Program Manager – Immunization, Screening, Tests and Mobile Clinics. “The feedback we’re getting is very good.”
The mobile clinics in city parks within the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal coverage area continue until September 11. See the schedule and list of parks here.
