St Vincent's Integrated Care Mobile Van hits the road

St Vincent's Integrated Care Mobile Van hits the road

15 Jul 2022

St Vincent’s Mobile Health Clinic has officially hit the road with its first specialist care clinic commencing at St Canice’s Kitchen recently. 

Put simply, the service provides the same functionality that you would expect within a hospital setting, but on the back of a truck. The aim is to take the Clinic to the community to work with vulnerable populations in areas where people are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, people in social housing, First Nations communities and people who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

“We’re looking at people who are in unstable housing, roofless, shelter-less or who are in social housing and facing significant barriers to having their health care needs met. Explained Erin Longbottom, Nurse Unit Manager, St Vincent’s Homeless Health Service.

There is a huge health disparity between the general population and people experiencing homelessness, who don’t have good primary health care in the community, they also tend to have higher incidents of chronic disease. This means that people experiencing homelessness often present to the Emergency Department in crisis.

St Vincent’s Mobile Van is geared up to provide robust chronic disease care in the community as well as specialist health care, including  drug & alcohol treatment, mental health care and comprehensive physical health care  - all operating out of a state-of-the-art clinic on wheels. 

Additionally, the St Vincent’s Mobile Health Clinic is equipped with telehealth facilities, enabling specialist care appointments with clinicians without the need to leave the community and come to hospital.  Instead, clients experiencing homelessness may have a clinical appointment at a drop-in centre or soup kitchen in the Inner City where the Van will frequent at peak times, vastly improving access to care for those who need it most. 

“We would hope people feel that it’s not a really clinical setting. We’ve tried to make it as comfortable as possible for people. We’ve designed this model of care in consultation with local services, with people experiencing homelessness and with First Nations communities to try and make the Van friendly, comfortable and easily accessible for all people”, Erin said. 

The Mobile Van team includes peer support workers and Aboriginal Health Workers on board to support people and make them feel safe. “Gaining trust and building rapport is such an important part of providing health care for people experiencing homelessness, people in social housing and other vulnerable groups, as lot of whom have  past history of negative experiences with health care services. It’s vital that people can come in to our Van and receive care in a trauma informed way”. 

The whole premise of St Vincent’s Homeless Health Service is to take care to people where they are comfortable and where they can most easily access it. Being able to provide specialist services in a safe environment, providing optimal care in the community for those who need it most.

“This is all about improving health equity and justice for people who are disadvantaged, marginalised and who are more likely to experience poor health outcomes because they have a lack of access to health services”, said Erin.

The mobile clinic made its first journey to St Canice’s Kitchen in Kings Cross, on Wednesday 20th July for a dedicated Diabetes Clinic. 

Watch Erin talk about the Mobile Clinic and the work of the Homeless Health team in the video below: