Calgarians who find it difficult to access health services in the city have a new opportunity to do so thanks to a funding boost that helps brings professionals right into underserved communities.
On Thursday, Ronald McDonald House Charities Alberta received a $50,000 cheque from Cenovus Energy in support of its Care Mobile medical program.
Care Mobile provides free medical, dental and health education services to families in the Calgary area. The mobile clinic sets up in pre-specified locations around the city and clinicians from the Mosaic Primary Care Network attend and are available to answer questions and even perform some services.
Jason Evanson, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Alberta, says the clinic is a lifeline for many people.
"We saw that so many Calgarians just don’t know how to navigate the health care system, so Care Mobile was launched seven years ago to create a bridge between vulnerable communities and the services that we know they need."
Carla Koe, a dental hygienist with the Mosaic Primary Care Network, she says education is a key foundation in their work.
"A big part of our program is helping especially new Canadians, seeing what their immediate needs are, what their needs in the future might be and helping them though the dental process."
Koe says, as a clinician, she regularly sees the same families returning to the Mobile Clinic.
"We’ll pull up to a venue and we’ll have families who look at the bus and think, 'There’s my answers, that’s what I need.'"
Care Mobile currently visits 25 programming locations in Calgary. In 2018, the program operated a total of 201 days, providing 720 clinical hours including 611 medical visits, 1,261 dental visits and 2,384 health education visits.
Services offered on the mobile clinic include dental hygiene and assessment, activity planning with a kinesiologist, growth and nutritional screening with a dietitian and more.
For more information and to see the Care Mobile Schedule go online.
