One-stop convenience for health and community services

North Lethbridge residents can see a family physician, access services at June 6 pop-up event

LETHBRIDGE — Bringing health and community services closer to the people is the goal of a special pop-up health and community service event on Monday, June 6.

Organized by the University of Lethbridge, University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services (AHS) as part of a research project called IMPACT, the event offers health services and access to community organizations in one handy location at Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

North Lethbridge residents will be able to access health services such as home care services, immunizations, public health nursing advice, a family physician, and addiction and mental health services for children and adults.

Other local agencies will also be on hand to offer information on food and housing supports, recreation subsidies, parenting support or access to government services and identification.

IMPACT is a five-year research program currently working with communities in Australia and three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Ontario and Quebec). One of its goals is to promote access to primary health care for vulnerable populations.

The Alberta research focuses on North Lethbridge because demographics show that residents here experience more limited access to primary health care and other services when compared to their neighbours elsewhere in the city.

“Often, north Lethbridge residents have to seek health and community supports in other parts of the city,” says Dr. Shannon Spenceley, IMPACT co-investigator and assistant professor of nursing at the University of Lethbridge. “We have worked closely with the community, and it is out of that work that we came to the decision to try this alternative model to see how it could work.”

Barriers to health and community service access identified by IMPACT include transportation, non-traditional hours of work and cultural barriers, and sometimes the atmosphere that may be present in some health care settings.

“We recognized it was important to try different approaches to traditional primary health care in this part of the city,” says Cheryl Andres, IMPACT co-investigator. “Given some of the barriers that the north part of the city faces, our goal is to bring services to where the clients are instead of always asking them to come to us, then we could evaluate this service model for potential in the future.”

Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre is located on a Lethbridge Transit route, and other transportation options may be available. North Lethbridge residents who require transportation to the event or have questions are encouraged to call 403-795-3934.

The Alberta IMPACT research team, funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, is led by Dr. Cathie Scott (The Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research and University of Calgary). Local co-investigators are Cheryl Andres (AHS) and Dr. Shannon Spenceley (University of Lethbridge).

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

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