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Health/Wellness

Health care on wheels

The wheels on the bus may go 'round and 'round. But what the Regional Niagara Health Bus does is hardly kids' stuff: the 36-foot-long bus brings public health care to people in Niagara Falls, Welland, Fort Erie and other towns on the peninsula who for one reason or another remain outside the reach of family physicians, dentists and other professionals.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2006-05-24 ]

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Niagara Region Public Health Department staff from left to right: Maria Rosiana, Health Bus team leader; Michelle Hemingway, registered dental hygienist; Stacey Allegro, Health Bus public health nurse and Anna Graham, certified dental assistant.

Alan Spencer, a manager for the Regional Niagara Public Health Department, says the Health Bus sees about 2,500 medical and about 1,000 dental clients a year. "The bus has a mandate to reach people who can't access service (through the usual channels)," Spencer says. "Generally it's people on the margins and at higher risk for health care."

That doesn't mean, however, that the Health Bus is a "walk-in clinic on wheels," he continues. Public health care -- prevention, harm reduction, immunization, birth control -- is its stock in trade. That could mean flu shots for children and seniors, pregnancy testing for teenage girls, prescriptions for antibiotics or anti-fungal creams, sexual health advice and so on.

The Health Bus began in 1999. The retro-fitted vehicle itself was donated by the Wise Guys Charity Fund and public health care services are funded by the Regional Niagara Public Health Department, Spencer says. Just keeping the bus on the road -- gas, insurance, maintenance -- costs about $30,000 a year.

There's a rotating schedule of nurse-practitioners, public health nurses, dental hygienists, dental assistants and community support workers who staff the bus. Although it doesn't have a doctor or dentist on board, a physician in St. Catharines provides medical advice as needed.

TWO SHIFTS

The Health Bus goes out on two shifts, morning and afternoon, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m, serving clients at various locations around Niagara. It also puts in one evening a week from April to October. In winter the Health Bus is on the road two evenings a week in conjunction with the region's Out of the Cold program for the homeless.

Michael Solanki, a dental hygienist, works on the bus two or three times a month. He says he basically provides a visual assessment of clients' mouths. Recently, in Welland, he helped an 80-year-old woman with a toothache, giving her a $100 voucher so she could see a dentist. "Pain seems to dictate when they come in, so that's the day you see (clients)," Solanki says.

Maria Rosiana, a nurse and full-time team leader on the Health Bus, says confidentiality is important to the people who use the service. All they have to supply is their name, date of birth, the name of a contact, any allergies they may have, and the name of their doctor, should they have one. Clients don't need an OHIP card to receive service.

Allison Kissner is a nurse-practitioner and works part time for the Health Bus. She says she can diagnose, write prescriptions for certain drugs, supply oral contraceptives and order x-rays and ultra-sound tests for the people she sees.

MENTAL HEALTH

Many of them, Kissner says, have problems with their mental health, and others are addicted to drugs and alcohol. The Health Bus probably gets more men than women through its doors, she continues, and they're usually in their late 20s to early 50s.

Demand for the services the Health Bus provides is obvious, but then so too is the gratitude of the people it serves: one client went so far as to bring his adult education exam along to show staff how well he had done.

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