Humber River Health (HRH) has partnered with Black Creek Community Health Centre on their People Accessing Care Teams (PACT) program to improve access to community resources, healthcare services and social supports for patients.

Through this partnership, a Healthcare Navigator from Black Creek Community Health Centre is on hand at the Humber River Health’s Emergency Department on Mondays and Thursdays for 90 minutes. During this time, the Navigator assesses referrals and provides information to patients about resources and services in the community to support health care, and other social needs, such as access to food banks and clothing.  The PACT program can be accessed through a referral from a physician/nurse practitioner. However, the majority of services at Black Creek can be accessed through self-referral.

“Since the partnership began, we’ve seen a number of individuals using the program with favourable results,” said Jane Casey, Program Director Emergency Services and Command Centre. “The partnership offers individuals living in the community, access to information about supports available to them that can help to improve their quality of life.”

“Being at Humber River Health’s Emergency Department helps build that initial trust with the client when they are leaving the hospital.  The staff at HRH introduce the clients to us and that “warm hand-off” helps them feel more comfortable and confident, and they tell us how they would like to be supported as they leave the hospital. This is especially important for those patients who may not have a permanent home or a phone number. We can make arrangements to meet at Black Creek or in the community to follow up and make sure they get the help they need,” said Cyril Borgai, Healthcare Navigator.

Black Creek Community Health Centre and Humber River Health have been able to offer patients in this program access to resources and services, with a holistic approach based on the social determinants of health, such as:

• Referrals to counselling and psychotherapy by a social worker
• Referrals to health services at Black Creek including nutrition counselling, foot care, physiotherapy, midwifery and chronic disease management
• Supporting applications and referrals for housing, and homecare
• Support for OW and ODSP application process for financial assistance
• Consultation with Children’s Aid Services, where appropriate
• Support through programs for youth, newcomers, families and seniors in the community
• Referrals to food programs at Black Creek and local food and clothing banks
• Assistance with TTC tokens so that patients can get to their appointments at Black Creek Community Health Centre
• Referral to legal and medical assistance to support immigration processes

For more information, please visit www.bcchc.com or contact 416-249-8000.