Salvus Clinic continues to meet the needs of those who are vulnerable in the Moncton community.
They were established in 2007 and their mission is to provide access to primary healthcare, housing support and service navigation to those who are surviving and experiencing barriers related to homelessness, poverty, mental health and substance use.
The group was brought together by Dr. Crouse to meet a growing and complex need of vulnerable populations in the Moncton area. In 2014, it became a registered charity.
Last year the clinic was forced to move from its Church Street location, where they had been since 2007. They were eventually split into two spots, one at 1116 Mountain Road where they provide 17 staff who care for the homeless and those living in poverty who do not have a family physician.
The other is where they provide housing and social service support at 272 St. George, with 24 staff. They help around 160 high-acuity clients at that location alone.
“We also have a number of Navigators who are the ones that go into the areas of encampments or along the city streets to find ‘Joe’ who may be needed for documentation or for an appointment, who is not housed. So we have an amazing staff who will go out of their way morning, night and weekend, to make sure that the most vulnerable of our community is not left alone, and we work with them on a daily basis, “Executive Director Deborah Thomson says.
They have two Navigators currently, and the hope is to add a third in the new fiscal year.
“Our Navigators are people that usually have lived experience, so they already have a pre-existing relationship, so they’ll go to them, and they will build up that trust and rapport. It takes time. It can take almost a year to really get somebody to trust you in the wintertime. We have been making some headway with housing, but it’s still a challenge,” Thomson adds.
The hope is that Salvus Clinic will eventually come together again, with all services under one roof.
