An Aurora-based addiction services provider is looking to “meet people where they are at” with its new mobile clinic.
Addiction Services Central Ontario (ASCO), located at 14785 Yonge St., has launched its Mobile Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic.
The clinic is housed in a retrofitted Ford Transit van and will be stationed at locations throughout York Region and Simcoe County on a rotating basis. The locations are chosen from ASCO’s partner organizations throughout the area, according to Phillip Wong, director of nursing services.
From the van, a team of nurses and counsellors will be able to administer medications, including anti-craving medicines, offer some counselling services and referrals to other services and programs.
Penny Marrett, executive director of ASCO, said the idea came from feedback from some of their service clients, who often would ask, "Why didn't I hear about this sooner?"
“It is a clinic that's on wheels basically and can go and meet people where they are at and where they're located,” she said. “So you can appreciate it's not always easy if you're using public transit, for example, or if you only have access to a car at certain times of the day, it's not always easy to come out to one of our rapid access addiction service clinics that are in the community.”
The van and its retrofits cost about $350,000 and were funded by Ontario Health. The organization first ran a pilot version of the clinic in 2019 that was a success, and had been seeking the funds to re-establish the program. Once secured, it took about a year to complete the retrofits, with the pandemic throwing a spanner into the works, according to Marrett.
Wong said the mobile clinic has proved popular with clients so far, although they have started small, with fewer clients using the mobile clinic on its first days than would regularly visit the clinic.
Marrett said the mobile clinic was also intended to expand access to its services and strives to be low barrier to encourage new clients to access services they may need.
More information about the mobile clinic, including where it is scheduled to be located, can be found online.