Submitted by: June Crandall, Contributing Author
I ended Part 4 by promising to delve more into getting the clinics fully operational to include promoting this to the community. With the buy-in from the Elgin Seniors Club and the Elgin Women’s Institute firmly in hand, we began solidly building on the next steps. Buy-in from the Seniors Club and the Women’s Institute was critical as these groups have the best understanding of the needs and the pulse of the community given their volunteer work. Moreover, concurrently I was involved in planning meetings and discussions on conducting the next iteration of the Community Health Needs Assessment in the Salisbury, Havelock, Elgin and Petitcodiac (SHEP) region (including surrounding communities). In fact, I am pleased to include a link to the final report based on the research conducted by the Horizon Health Network.
https://horizonnb.ca/about-us/our-communities/about-chnas-community-health-needs assessments/ Hearing first-hand from community members about their needs further affirmed the need for a level of healthcare in the community.
I ended Part 4 by promising to delve more into getting the clinics fully operational to include promoting this to the community. With the buy-in from the Elgin Seniors Club and the Elgin Women’s Institute firmly in hand, we began solidly building on the next steps. Buy-in from the Seniors Club and the Women’s Institute was critical as these groups have the best understanding of the needs and the pulse of the community given their volunteer work. Moreover, concurrently I was involved in planning meetings and discussions on conducting the next iteration of the Community Health Needs Assessment in the Salisbury, Havelock, Elgin and Petitcodiac (SHEP) region (including surrounding communities). In fact, I am pleased to include a link to the final report based on the research conducted by the Horizon Health Network.
https://horizonnb.ca/about-us/our-communities/about-chnas-community-health-needs assessments/ Hearing first-hand from community members about their needs further affirmed the need for a level of healthcare in the community.
No stone was left unturned in terms of identifying the services, equipment and promoting the launch of the Adult Health Screening Clinics in Elgin. The launch date for the first clinic was January 24, 2024. Horizon Health provided some medical supplies, and privacy walls. The medical supplies included lancets (blood glucose testing), blood pressure cuffs, heart rate and oxygen saturation monitors, and equipment for BMI analysis. The privacy walls were critical because the seniors center does not have private rooms. It was rightly determined that the privacy walls were a must to help protect the privacy of the clinic attendees (hereafter referred to as patients). Additionally, because this was, at that time a pilot study, we realized that we needed to collect some basic satisfaction information from the patients. We developed a brief questionnaire that omitted the need for patients to give any identifiable information such as phone number, name, address, etc. We did collect postal code information to identify the general area where the patients lived at the time of their visit and the patients age so we could determine the average age. The example questionnaire can be shared with any area looking to replicate this kind of screening clinic.
Furthermore, the Community Developers, Amy O’Keefe and Alannah Pearson, were able to identify a number of service providers who could set up at the clinic should patients have question about or need other community resources. The other, and perhaps most important to the patients, was the development of a patient passport. This document, used by the nurses to log the results of the screening, was retained by the patients who were advised to bring the booklet with them to each of the screening visits. This would be very helpful to them to see any changes between screening, plus provides some essential information to any health care provider.
Follow me as I discuss how the first adult health screening clinic was promoted, and was supported by two MLAs, our MP, the Mayor of the Community of Three Rivers.
Furthermore, the Community Developers, Amy O’Keefe and Alannah Pearson, were able to identify a number of service providers who could set up at the clinic should patients have question about or need other community resources. The other, and perhaps most important to the patients, was the development of a patient passport. This document, used by the nurses to log the results of the screening, was retained by the patients who were advised to bring the booklet with them to each of the screening visits. This would be very helpful to them to see any changes between screening, plus provides some essential information to any health care provider.
Follow me as I discuss how the first adult health screening clinic was promoted, and was supported by two MLAs, our MP, the Mayor of the Community of Three Rivers.
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