Wednesday is the longest day of the week. That’s because every Wednesday evening for the past year and a half, the Navigator has partnered with the Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH) nurse on outreach from 6 pm to 10 pm (or later). Through this partnership, we are able to ensure that homeless and street-involved individuals in the downtown core have access to much needed Health Care services.
On any given Wednesday evening, we encounter individuals with a variety of health needs – ranging from blood work and pregnancy testing, to wound care and medications, to scheduling doctor appointments and completing the necessary forms for Department of Community Services. In the fall, the nurse has flu vaccinations available. In the winter, we have hats and mittens. And year round, we hand out harm reduction supplies and “MOSH bars” (a protein bar created by the nutritionist and the North End Community Health Center and made weekly by youth in the MOSH kitchen).
Each Wednesday starts and ends the same. We begin at the ARK – a drop-in center for street-youth on Gottingen Street, and finish at the Out of the Cold Shelter at St.Matthews Church on Barrington Street. The stops (and issues) in between vary from week to week. Some weeks, we check-in with 25 plus people while walking between Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road. Other weeks we have to spend an hour with an individual in crisis who has multiple needs. Over the past year, we have worked together to support the health, mental health, addictions and housing needs of 78 different individuals.
In many situations, we work together to assist individuals to develop a plan, and cost-share any expenses that may arise. For instance, we often cost-share bus tickets to enable individuals to get into detox and addiction treatment centers across Nova Scotia. Or cost-share an overdue power bill to ensure an individual can remain in their apartment with electricity.
To learn more about the MOSH program, and the amazing work that they do, check out www.cdha.nshealth.ca/mobile-outreach-street-health.
If you have questions for the Navigator, EJ Davis, call 209-6517, or check out our new facebook page Navigator Street Outreach Program