Community partner to bring health services to North Bay's Northern Pines facility for homeless individuals
The Nipissing District’s transitional housing complex on Chippewa St., known as Northern Pines, is bringing expanded health care to the facility.
The District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board (DNSSAB), Crisis Centre North Bay (CCNB) and North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) are partnering to offer wrap-around services on-site to help break the “chronic homelessness cycle.”
DNSSAB chairman Mark King said the board recognized half-a-decade ago that tackling chronic homelessness requires more than a meal on the table and a roof overhead.
“Five years of hard work,” said King.
“DNSSAB applauds the partners’ willingness to participate in this unique model and for arriving at a creative, suitable plan to provide wrap-around services to clients.”
King said he feels that with these key partnerships in place, Northern Pines, is at the provincial leading edge, bringingmuch-neededd on-site medical, psychological, and emotional supports to tenants.
“The sense of real cooperation from the community level is real,” he said.
- Download the CTV News app now and get local alerts on your device
- Get local breaking news and updates sent to your email inbox
The crisis centre will operate a residential support team on site that offers a “structured, supportive and supervised living space.” Staff are on-site 24/7 to provide supports to residents including independent life skills training, one-on-one counselling, cooperative living skills, nutrition education, meal planning and preparation, community awareness, and structured tenancy.
“No one organization can solve the issues surrounding homelessness, mental health, and addictions. We need to be working together,” explained the crisis centre’s executive director Sue Rinneard.
“The folks that were attending the Northern Pines centre, that's where they feel safe and they've already established relationships with the housing staff. They might be more apt to accept the assistance."
The hospital, meanwhile will station one of its two Assertive Community Treatment Teams (ACTT) at Northern Pines. This team, led by a psychiatrist, will provide coverage in the community 16 hours per day, seven days a week with after-hours on-call coverage.
In addition, the hospital will provide on-site addiction supports on a scheduled monthly basis, through its mobile Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic.
“We’re proud to team up with the Crisis Centre and DNSSAB to improve mental health service efficiency and access for people experiencing homelessness,” said Paul Heinrich, the hospital’s president and CEO.
“This is the most progressive thing we've seen anywhere in the province. It will perhaps even spark the spirit in them to get more help."
Paramedics will be able to offer health assessments, point-of-care testing, vaccinations, and blood work to residents at Northern Pines to improve overall physical health. In many cases, access to the Community Paramedicine Program is the first point of contact for health services for homeless individuals.
Once complete, Northern Pines, will accommodate 60 homeless people and transition them to a life of independence. There are three distinct, secure living quarters and each phase has its own level of support and required care.
People can progress from high to low supports and then through the community housing continuum. Phase one is complete. Phase two is set to be ready by the end of the summer.
“All of those support systems, in my estimation, is going to change the landscape of homelessness in this city,” King concluded.
The board recently issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to retain the services of a consultant to assess the current homelessness situation in municipalities throughout Nipissing District and to make recommendations on how community services can move forward to respond to the identified needs.
The assessment will review current services for unsheltered people across the district, including the low-barrier shelter in North Bay and street outreach services, and consider the need for a homelessness hub, as well as offer best practices in these areas.
Details of the DNSSAB's plans for the Northern Pines campus can be found here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.