'Bridges critical gaps': Alberta earmarks $30M for clinics to serve most vulnerable in cities

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Some 15,000 vulnerable patients in Edmonton and Calgary are getting a primary care boost to the tune of $30 million in grants for over the next two years.

In Edmonton, Radius Community Health and Healing (formerly Boyle McCauley Health Centre) will receive a $7 million grant and the Jasper Place Wellness Centre will reopen with a $4.8 million grant.

In Calgary, the Alex Community Health Centre will receive $11.6 million to expand access to primary care for Indigenous and marginalized communities.

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Also in Calgary, CUPS will get $6.6 million to grow its clinical team and services, including a new walk-in outreach clinic, mental health services and support roles like health navigators, case managers and peer supports.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said Tuesday the grants came from recommendations by the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System (MAPS).

The funds will benefit expanded services, including primary health care for Indigenous and marginalized groups, mental health services, a walk-in clinic, outreach services and team-based care, LaGrange said.

‘Empower individuals’

Taylor Soroka is co-founder and vice-president of strategy at the Jasper Place Wellness Centre.

Praising the three other community centres on the list, she said the grant funding will enable her organization to reopen its community health centre that closed a year ago.

Such centres differ from traditional medical clinics because they address not only an individual’s unique medical needs but also the social and economic factors that impact well-being, she said.

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“The integration of social services with primary care transforms both individuals and neighbourhoods,” Soroka said.

“It bridges critical gaps, ensuring that Albertans facing challenges, whether it be an elder looking to secure housing in a competitive market, or a team trying to navigate life difficulty seeking a mental health counsellor, are not left behind by embedding social services within primary care. We empower individuals, strengthen families and cultivate healthier, more resilient communities built on mutual care and support.”

‘Wrap-around clinic service’

Tricia Smith is executive director of Radius Community Health and Healing.

She said the former Boyle McCauley Health Centre serves nearly 4,000 individuals, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, living in poverty and struggling with histories of trauma, mental illness and substance use disorders.

The grant will fund an additional 30 full-time positions, Smith said.

With 20 contractors, 100 full-time and 60 casual staff, including family physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, community support workers, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a dental team, administrators and other providers, the teams at Radius provide a host of services, Smith said.

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Dr. Shelley Duggan, president of the Alberta Medical Association, toured the CUPS clinic in Calgary last week.

While the infusion of funds doesn’t address the larger number of 800,000 Albertans around the province who don’t have primary care providers, it helps a specific population rely less on emergency and acute care, Duggan said.

“Certainly, we have a lot of vulnerable people who have difficulties accessing medical care and they are complicated in that they’re unhoused, they are in poverty, some have substance use disorders. That takes more of a wrap-around clinic service to help care for them. Keeping those clinics open really helps, and it does keep people out of our emergency department,” she told Postmedia.

jcarmichael@postmedia.com

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