By Dimitrije Martinovic
Dimitrije is a staff at FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

In the third of Radio Regent’s series of the Downtown East Vaccine Radio programs, a collaboration with the Regent Park Community Health Centre (RPCHC). Hosted by Murshida S Mueen, a Community Ambassador with Regent Park Social Development Plan (SDP), she interviewed Abhishek Saxena, Pandemic Program Manager, Regent Park Community Health Centre (RPCHC), and Anuradha Yadav, Community Ambassador, Regent Park Social Development Plan (SDP).

The focus of this week’s program is the current evolvement of the area vaccine clinics to what will now be called wellness hubs. Abhishek Saxena, characterised the transition of vaccine clinics to wellness hubs as follows, “You could call the wellness hubs as vaccine clinics 2.0. What we are trying to do is provide a spectrum of services, the idea being that the hubs would provide, testing, distributing rapid antigen test, and third part is providing therapeutics. Therapeutics is basically providing other options to people, for example pills, if people have symptoms of covid and they are reluctant to be vaccinated. And developing primary care for clients who do not have family doctors. Also, preventative services blood pressure checks, diabetes checks, and providing mental health support. So the idea was to provide a spectrum of services under one umbrella of wellness hubs.”

As Abhishek Saxena further elaborated, the wellness hubs are not walk-in clinics, but rather they target people who have had a disruption their medical care because covid or other personal situations, newcomers, or homeless people. Anuradha Yadav, added that the services provided by the wellness hubs extend to providing referral services to other social services like housing,  employment, and training programs.

With wellness hubs in essentially the early stages of their development it is hoped that their integrated approach to providing a spectrum of health services under one roof will be more effective in communities where the needs are for-the-most part more diverse.