The stories in this collection can be sorted by location, subject, practitioner, latest addition or format. Icons indicate how the stories are presented.
 | Listen to a frontline health practitioner talk about their work |
 | Tour a photo essay and see the people and places on the frontlines of health |  | Read a transcript of an audio story |
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A SMALL, RURAL COMMUNITY RALLIES BEHIND ITS HEALTHCARE TEAM Caledonia, Nova Scotia had a committed team of health professionals but their working conditions were limiting the services they could offer. So, the entire community rallied to build a new community health centre. |
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THE SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR ABORIGINAL NURSING STUDENTS SPANS is an innovative collaboration between the University of Lethbridge and local First Nations communities that is attracting more Aboriginal students to the field of nursing. It has been designed to deliver culturally-appropriate care to Canada’s Aboriginal communities. |
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BUILDING A COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE ONE SQUARE FOOT AT A TIME A small, rural community in Nova Scotia made the commitment to keep their healthcare professionals by building a new community health centre and supporting those caregivers in their efforts to build a larger healthcare community. |
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FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES AND UNIVERSITY COLLABORATE TO SUPPORT ABORIGINAL NURSING STUDENTS Historically, there have never been enough Aboriginal Registered Nurses in Canada. But an innovative and effective new program developed through a partnership between the University of Lethbridge and local First Nations communities has begun to improve the odds. |
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COMMUNITY COLLABORATION PROVIDES SEAMLESS SERVICE FOR A VULNERABLE POPULATION Kelowna's growing affluence has increased the stress on the city’s poor and homeless. Frontline workers in health and social services have responded by devising an elegant way to improve the delivery of care. |
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MOBILE OUTREACH STREET HEALTH – TAKING IT TO THE STREETS When health, social service and support services and clinics in Halifax saw their clients facing barriers to care they designed a new service to reach out to clients where they live. |
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THE NORTH END COMMUNITY IN HALIFAX THROUGH THE EYES OF ONE OF ITS OWN The North End of Halifax is home to many of the city’s most vulnerable populations and to the health and social service agencies that serve them. In February, 2009, street nurse Patti Melanson took photojournalist Roger Lemoyne on a very personal tour of the community she serves. |
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GRASSROOTS COALITION IN KELOWNA HELPS THE HOMELESS MOVE OFF THE STREET Two simple decisions; to work collaboratively and to focus on one individual at a time creates a culture shift on the frontlines. |
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LE GRAND CHEMIN – HELPING ADOLESCENTS CONQUER ADDICTION Young people struggling with addiction in Quebec had nowhere to turn until this residential treatment program began offering free help to adolescents from 12 to 18. |
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THE ALEXANDRA COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE – COVERING ALL THE BASES For years, the Alex has been providing interdisciplinary, patient-centred care to a highly eclectic group of clients in one of Calgary’s poorer neighbourhoods. Shelley Heartwell, Executive Director. |
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THE ALEXANDRA COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE - THINKING OUTSIDE THE SOAP BOX The ‘Alex’ provides care and support to Calgary’s poor and homeless and has turned a local laundromat into a thriving centre of community activity. |
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THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON INNER CITY HEALTH, ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL For the poor and homeless living on the streets of our cities the care they receive at many of our mainstream healthcare institutions falls far short of what they need. Dr. Stephen Hwang is working to address this inequity. |
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THE CNIB EYE VAN For eight months of the year this 48 foot mobile clinic delivers state of the art vision care to some 30 isolated towns and communities in Northern Ontario. |
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THE CNIB EYE VAN – DELIVERING EYE CARE TO NORTHERN ONTARIO Many communities in northern Ontario are too small to support an optometrist, let alone an ophthalmologist and with diabetes on the rise and an aging population, eye disease is a serious concern. Darla Pfahler, Ophthalmic Assistant. |
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THE CNIB EYE VAN ROLLS WITH AN ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS AND PARTNERS Combine the power of a good idea with the support of community volunteers across northern Ontario, and a wide array of corporate and professional partners, and you have a 30 year-old success story that keeps on trucking. |
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DELIVERING CARE TO THE INVISIBLE MINORITIES IN VANCOUVER’S DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE The homeless, the addicted and the street workers have health needs not well served by the mainstream health system. It takes special healthcare professionals to learn what they need and how to provide it. Dr. Trevor Corneil, Medical Director for Urban Primary Care for Vancouver Coastal Health. |
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A DOCTOR FROM THE U.S. MEETS TORONTO’S INNER CITY ANGEL Dr. Patricia O'Campo left a tenured position in medicine at Johns Hopkins University to become the Director of the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael's Hospital. |
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DOCTORS OF THE WORLD IN CANADA – FILLING THE GAPS IN MONTREAL’S INNER CITY This international agency provides emergency care wherever it is needed, including in affluent first world cities. |
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DOCTORS OF THE WORLD IN CANADA - TAKING CARE OF THE CAREGIVERS Known for its work providing care at sites of conflict, epidemics and natural disasters around the world, Médecins du Monde also provides care in downtown Montreal. |
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GARDEN HILL RENAL HEALTH UNIT – A FIRST IN CANADA Four levels of government, the local Aboriginal health authority and the University of Manitoba found the political will to remove jurisdictional boundaries and build Canada’s first freestanding remote renal dialysis unit. Dr. Bruce Martin, University of Manitoba. |
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GARDEN HILL RENAL HEALTH UNIT- BRINGING COMMUNITY MEMBERS HOME The renal health unit in the First Nations community of Garden Hill in Island Lake, Manitoba means dialysis patients can now come home from Winnipeg and return to their community and culture. |
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GARDEN HILL, MANITOBA WELCOMES A REMOTE RENAL DIALYSIS PROGRAM Almost half the aboriginal adults around Island Lake suffer from serious kidney disease. Now they can be cared for close to home. Wendy Whalley, Manager. |
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HEALTHCARE STUDENTS LEARNING IN THE REAL WORLD The Community Health Initiative by University Students (CHIUS) has started a revolution in how students in the health professions learn about inner city health. Dr. Andrew Morgan. |
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THE IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTRE’S MOBILE HEALTH CLINIC For many hardworking immigrant women, there’s just not enough time in the day to sit and wait to see a doctor so the mobile clinic takes the doctor right to where they work. |
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THE IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTRE – OVERCOMING INVISIBLE BARRIERS Language, culture and sheer hard work make it difficult for many immigrant women to access mainstream healthcare. A health clinic on wheels with culturally diverse staff members delivers care right to their workplaces. Judith Ramirez, Founder. |
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MENTORING THE NEXT GENERATION OF FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKERS - RECIPE FOR A CANADIAN REVOLUTION When medical students at UBC wanted to start a volunteer program in Vancouver’s downtown east side, they needed a faculty mentor. Dr. Peter Granger volunteered. |
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THE INVISIBLE MINORITIES LIVING AMONG US The physical and emotional impacts of poverty and homelessness create complex challenges for healthcare institutions. Understanding these pressures is the first step in providing care. |
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THE NORTHERN FAMILY MEDICINE PROGRAM IN GOOSE BAY, LABRADOR NorFam prepares medical students for the challenge of practicing in remote and rural locations, not only through its medical education, but by teaching them to love the land. |
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THE NORTHERN FAMILY MEDICINE PROGRAM – TEACHING DOCTORS TO WORK IN THE NORTH When 30% of Canadians living in remote and rural regions vie for the services of only 18% of the doctors and nurses, Labrador, one of our most remote regions, is fully staffed. Dr. Michael Jong, Director of NorFam. |
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THE NORTHERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE – FOCUSED ON RURAL AND REMOTE HEALTH In rural and remote parts of Canada, attracting and keeping healthcare professionals is a major issue. Dr. Roger Strasser, Founding Dean. |
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NURSE PRACTITIONER, KATHY FARIES, ON LAKE HURON’S NORTH SHORE Kathy Faries had been working as a registered nurse for 18 years when she decided she could be more effective working in isolated communities if she was a certified nurse practitioner. |
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OTTAWA INNER CITY HEALTH – FIGHTING ADDICTION ONE DRINK AT A TIME For many hardened alcoholics, the total abstinence demanded by programs like AA just doesn’t work. Dr. Jeff Turnbull, Medical Director of Ottawa Inner City Health. |
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OTTAWA INNER CITY HEALTH – SAVING AN ARTIST FROM CREATIVE SILENCE When Dr. Jeff Turnbull found Normee Ekoomiak sleeping under a bridge, the author and textile artist was close to death. Now he’s back to wielding needle and thread. |
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REACHING OUT TO ISOLATED SENIORS IN OTTAWA Ottawa Public Health has galvanized more than 100 community groups, individuals and social service organizations into a cohesive force working to identify and reach out to senior citizens living in isolation. |
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REACHING OUT TO SENIORS - AN INITIATIVE OF OTTAWA PUBLIC HEALTH Social isolation is one of the main determinants of health and for seniors the effects can be devastating. Myriam Jamault, Public Health Nurse. |
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SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE CONTINUES A LONG TRADITION Toronto’s downtown core is home to a complex mix of poor and homeless, addicts, gender diverse communities and comfortable middle class families. The Sherbourne is committed to serving them all equally. |
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SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE – FOCUSED ON CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE CARE Outside of several large urban centres if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, finding a care provider who understands your emotional and physical health issues is difficult. Anna Travers, Manager of LGBT Services. |
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SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE- WELCOMING THE TRANSGENDERED Jane was born male but has always known this was not her real gender. The Sherbourne is helping her become the woman she really is. |
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THE VICTORIA YOUTH CLINIC – HELPING HIGH-RISK YOUTH WORK TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE By the late 1990s a crisis was building in Victoria, B.C. around the lack of appropriate healthcare for street-involved youth. A small team of health professionals designed a clinic to fill that gap. Nurse Manager Kim Daly and Dr. Jennifer Lee. |
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SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE – PROVIDING HOMECARE FOR THE HOMELESS A doctor advises you to take your medication an hour before every meal and get plenty of bed rest. Sounds simple. But not if you have no bed to lie in and don’t know where your next meal is coming from. Alice Broughton, Manager of Homeless Services |
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SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE – REFLECTING THE COMMUNITIES IT SERVES Sherbourne Health Centre draws its clients from a rich mix of cultures, ethnicities, economic and social strata, genders and sexualities and the faces of its staff are an accurate reflection of these many realities. |
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- ALL STORIES
- LOCATION
- SUBJECT
- Addiction
- Culture
- Education
- Homelessness
- Inner City
- Innovation
- Leadership
- Mental Health
- Next Generation
- Poverty
- Rural and Remote
- Seniors
- Sexuality and Gender
- Youth at Risk
- PRACTITIONERS
- Adam Wylie
- Alice Broughton
- Anna Cioffi
- Anna Travers
- Andrew Hughes
- Cam Tran
- Colombe Grenier
- Darla Pfahler
- Dr. Andrew Morgan
- Dr. Bruce Martin
- Dr. Jeff Turnbull
- Dr. Jennifer Lee
- Dr. Jim Rafferty
- Dr. Judith Kulig
- Dr. Michael Jong
- Dr. Patricia O'Campo
- Dr. Peter Granger
- Dr. Pierre Letourneau
- Dr. Roger Strasser
- Dr. Stephen Hwang
- Dr. Susan Keen
- Dr. Trevor Corneil
- Judith Ramirez
- Kathy Faries
- Kim Daly
- Monique Pilkington
- Myriam Jamault
- Nathalie Martin
- Patti Melanson
- Renate Bennett
- Shelly Heartwell
- Tara Shouting
- Wendy Whalley
- LATEST ADDITIONS
- AUDIO STORY
- PHOTO ESSAY
- TRANSCRIPT