Today, TELUS announced the expansion of the company’s innovative
Health for Good program with Parkdale Queen West Community Health
Centre (CHC) and University Health Network’s (UHN) Social Medicine
Program. The Parkdale Queen West Mobile Health Clinic powered by
TELUS Health, a specially-equipped clinic on wheels, will provide
essential primary health and harm reduction services directly to
underserved persons in neighbourhoods in the mid-west region of
Toronto. In addition, the clinic will enable mobile COVID-19
testing and vaccination efforts at homeless sheltering sites,
congregate housing for marginalized populations and in areas with
high positivity rates.
“At TELUS, we believe that everyone should have access to
healthcare when and where they need it, regardless of their
socio-economic status. Through our partnership with Parkdale Queen
West CHC and UHN, we are removing many of the barriers facing
underserved and at-risk populations in the Parkdale area with
access to critical healthcare and social support,” said Darren
Entwistle, President and CEO, TELUS. “As we continue to navigate
the global pandemic, today’s expansion of our Health for Good
program will enable us to care for our most marginalized citizens
at a time when access to high-quality, compassionate healthcare,
including vital support for mental wellness, has never been more
important.”
Estimates show that there are more than 8,700 Torontonians
experiencing homelessness each day. In addition, marginalized
populations struggling with poverty are often challenged to access
primary health care, counselling and mental health support, as well
as harm reduction and illness prevention services. Through this
collaborative partnership,TELUS, Parkdale Queen West CHC and UHN’s
Social Medicine Program’s main goal is to improve the health and
wellbeing of these individuals and communities who are at-risk
and/or face barriers to accessing high quality health care services
and supports.
“Access to healthcare is a right, and opportunities for good
health cannot be a privilege for some—it must be enabled for all,”
said Angela Robertson, Executive Director of Parkdale Queen West
CHC. “The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted structural
inequities faced by the city’s marginalized populations, and
Parkdale Queen West CHC is thrilled to be in partnership with TELUS
Health and UHN’s Social Medicine Program to deliver on our mission
of providing healthcare for people when, where and how they need
it.”
“The mirage of universality in our healthcare system has cruelly
punished people living in poverty for decades. And the COVID-19
pandemic has only deepened the divide in accessing healthcare and
imposed even starker social inequities. The launch of a mobile
health clinic in partnership with Parkdale Queen West CHC and TELUS
is exactly the sort of innovation we need, not only to respond to
the pandemic, but in building lasting partnerships that shift care
to the centre of communities that need it most,” says Dr. Andrew
Boozary, Executive Director of UHN’s Social Medicine Program.
Backed by a $10 million commitment from TELUS, Health for Good
is already active from coast-to-coast with clinics operating in
Victoria, Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa,
Mississauga-Peel Region, Waterloo Region, Montreal, Halifax, and
now Toronto. These state-of-the-art mobile health clinics operate
in communities where frontline care is urgently needed and act as a
vital link between the community and local health authority.
Through a combination of drop-in primary care and individually
targeted follow up visits, the mobile outreach team builds rapport
and enables a continuity of care for people who have been
underserved by the traditional clinical care model. In 2020,
several mobile health clinics supported COVID-19 response efforts,
operating as assessment and testing centres and offering support to
people leaving isolation and recovering from COVID-19. Since the
program’s inception in 2014, TELUS Health Mobile Clinics have
supported over 50,000 patient visits.
This mobile health clinic, and others across the country, are
equipped with TELUS Health electronic medical record (EMR)
technology. The TELUS Health EMR will enable clinic staff to
collect and store health data, examine results over time, and
provide better continuity of care to patients who previously had
undocumented medical histories. The clinic is also equipped with
TELUS LTE Wi-Fi and TELUS Mobility services.
The medical clinic is divided into two main areas: one for
patient reception and mental health care and a second private, but
more spacious area with an examination table and a
physician/nursing workstation. This design helps improve patient
privacy and allows the team to treat patients with the dignity and
respect they deserve.
For more information about TELUS Health for Good, visit
telus.com/healthforgood.
About TELUS Health for GoodSince 2014, TELUS
Health for Good has been helping to remove many of the barriers
Canadians living on the streets face in receiving medical care and
reconnecting thousands of patients to the public healthcare system.
Mobile Health Clinics, powered by TELUS, were originally inspired
by the work being done by Doctors of The World. The Mobile Health
Clinics provide essential primary medical care, including
electronic medical records, generating over 50,000 patient visits
since the program’s inception. Today, through numerous
partnerships, volunteers, and the power of technology, TELUS Health
for Good is an efficient and innovative mobile healthcare delivery
tool to reach communities in need by bringing healthcare directly
to the people that need it most.
About TELUSTELUS
(TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications and
information technology company with $15 billion in annual revenue
and 15.4 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP,
voice, television, entertainment, video and security. At TELUS, we
leverage our world-leading technology’s potential to enable
remarkable human outcomes. Our long-standing commitment to putting
customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a
distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. TELUS
Health is Canada’s largest healthcare IT provider, and TELUS
International delivers the most innovative business process
solutions to some of the world’s most established brands.
Driven by our passionate social
purpose to connect all Canadians for good, our deeply meaningful
and enduring philosophy to give where we live has inspired our team
members and retirees to contribute $736 million and 1.4 million
days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and
unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company
in the world.
For more information about TELUS,
please visit telus.com, follow us @TELUSNews on Twitter and
@Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.
About Parkdale Queen West CHCParkdale Queen
West Community Health Centre (Parkdale Queen West CHC) is a
non-profit registered charity, community-based health and wellness
service organization, governed by a Board of Directors. Parkdale
Queen West CHC offers a broad range of services work to improve the
health and wellbeing of individuals and communities who are at risk
and/or face barriers to accessing high quality health care services
and support. This includes primary health care, dental care, health
promotion, counselling and mental health supports, HIV and
Hepatitis C supports and education, anonymous HIV point of care
testing, wellness group programming, practical supports (legal,
employment and housing), harm reduction and illness prevention,
advocacy, and community engagement and development.
Parkdale Queen West CHC works to improve the health and
wellbeing of individuals and communities who are at risk and/or
face barriers to accessing high quality health care services and
supports, including populations such as newcomers, racialized
communities, people who are homeless or street-involved, people
living with mental health issues, people who use drugs, people
living with disabilities, isolated seniors, LGBTQ communities and
people living in poverty. To learn more visit, www.pqwchc.org
About UHN’s Social Medicine ProgramThe Social
Medicine Program and Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine Innovation
at University Health Network (UHN) works alongside people
experiencing marginalization, community organizations, UHN
clinicians, and the city to address gaps between health and social
services and improve health outcomes and experiences for
marginalized populations in Toronto. UHN consists of Toronto
General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer
Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener
Institute of Education at UHN. The scope of research and complexity
of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and
international source for discovery, education and patient care. It
has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with
major research in arthritis, cardiology, transplantation,
neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases,
genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health
Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of
Toronto. To learn more visit, www.uhn.ca.
For media inquiries, please contact:Saara
RahikkaTELUS Public Relationssaara.rahikka@telus.com(647)
465-4596
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8157ecc-fc59-4018-8661-3eab6eb466f1
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