Annual Report 2022-2023

Annual Report

Working together, for each other

A message from the Board Chair and the Executive Director

Working together, for each other

Dear friends,

Like many of you, our reflections of 2022 revolve around the fact that COVID-19 is rapidly evolving, and getting through this requires that we all work together and stand by each other. The ongoing experience of the pandemic is tough, and we continue to feel a lack of control. But, despite the anxiety, lack of control, and uncertainty, there was so much observable collective resilience and support throughout the Centre.

We also feel pride. We feel pride in how so many people – from our frontline healthcare staff to all of us who have sacrificed our joys to protect others –have come together and formed an unwritten commitment to watch out for each other, taken personal actions to keep others safe, and made deep sacrifices for the greater good.

When we look around at our staff, we see exhaustion, stress, and grief. But, we also see tenacity and resolve. We see a commitment to ensuring the health and well-being of everyone. We see strength. When we look at so many of our friends, neighbours and community around us, we also see these same things.

Working together and for each other affords us with the promise of hope, tolerance and collaboration in moving forward.

We want to encourage hope, but not a false sense of reality. We want us to look ahead at a brighter time, but we want to urge caution around assumptions that COVID-19 isn’t still serious, and won’t continue to take lives. Omicron, for example, may be mild for many, but for just as many it has also been, and still is, deadly. For example, vulnerable populations, people facing inequities such as homelessness or systemic racism, healthcare and other frontline workers who put their lives on the line every day remain at risk.

We want to assure you we are continuing to do everything we can to support our critical COVID-19 response work and to ensure that evidence-based information is reaching our patients and community. As we start to look ahead, we’re seeing our role evolving into recovery and addressing the societal consequences of the pandemic-related measures of the last two years. Our work won’t stop, and our vision of creating a healthy community won’t end. And, as we transition to fewer restrictions, we will maintain our level of diligence and responsibility to you. Together we can continue to keep each other safe. This is how we will live with COVID-19 and find our better future. If this pandemic has taught us anything, is that we are stronger together and we can thrive, together.

When we get through the worst of what COVID-19 brings, we will all remember what it felt like to support each other, to take individual actions and make individual choices to protect the collective good, and we will keep it going. We will apply this to our broader concept of health, how we resource our health and our healthcare systems, and how we live in and respect the world and people around us.

Because small things we can all do can make a huge impact. It’s that simple.

In gratitude,

Leila Bocksch, Board Chair

David Gibson, Executive Director

SHCHC honours the territory upon which our staff and partners live, work, and play. We acknowledge that this is the traditional unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation, who lived on this land since time immemorial. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on this territory.

Terra, a Registered Nurse in Health Services, sent an instant message to the team one day, and she lifted everyone’s energy when she wrote: “An elderly patient’s son just told me how much he appreciates the care that his mother and his family get from us. He told me that we are all very special to them.

Today is a good day. We must remember what people say on days like this so we can pull through the days that are not like this.”

This instant message helps to show the determination the Health Services team has to deliver exceptional quality health care to as many people as our resources allow.

Health Services

Even though the World Health Organization has stated that the pandemic is no longer a global emergency, the burden of COVID-19 going forward sits on the shoulders of primary care doctors and nurses, now that the COVID-19 Assessment Centres have largely shut down. Health Services is seeing an increasing number of registered patients and non-registered patients with myriad respiratory illnesses, along with a recent spike in Group A Strep.

The lifting of mask mandates and restrictions, and the availability of vaccines in the past year have contributed to an unprecedented surge of people, including asylum seekers, who require primary health care services. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on our patients’ health that is broader than the effects of contracting the virus itself. The backlog in hospital procedures is challenging, and numerous forms of care have been delayed, cancelled or otherwise affected by the pandemic throughout 2020 and 2021.

The Health Services team continued to provide valuable learning experiences for nursing, nurse practitioner, and family medicine student placements within the context of COVID-19 practice changes.

Our team steadily increased cancer-screening activities to above pre-pandemic levels, providing crucial early detection of disease for our patients.

Chiropody and the Youth Health Clinic continued to see increasing volumes of patients, as people became more comfortable seeking again health care services.

The team also reached among the highest quality indicators in the province.

Health Services Registered Nurses celebrating Nursing Week 2023

Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management

The Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management team (HPCDM) re-started to offer individual appointments and group programs in-person, and also continued to offer these services over the phone and through virtual platforms.

Re-offering in-person groups to clients and community members has allowed us to extend our reach by connecting with new individuals, and re-connect with clients we had not seen since the pandemic.

Team members were busy offering groups in partnership with other teams within our Centre, as well as with other organizations. We continued to offer a mindful self-compassion group in collaboration with our Addiction and Mental Health team; our dietitian collaborated with our Oasis team to of-

Our two intern students recording a Heart Wise Exercise webinar as part of the Heart Institute’s web series. This session was called Cardio Dance, Boxing and Balance.

fer a bi-weekly cooking group during their drop-in service, and offered numerous virtual and in-person nutrition workshops in partnership with the Parent Resource Centre and Strathcona Heights. Our kinesiologist offered exercise groups in partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Centre, and our smoking cessation counsellor offered a Quit Smoking support group in partnership with Centretown Community Health Centre.

The team continued to provide valuable learning experiences for kinesiology students, incorporating the use of virtual platforms for client activities as well as community partners to offer in-person groups again. We were not able to mentor our usual dietitian and nursing students due to staff changes in our team, but we anticipate restarting these important mentorships this year.

Community Development and Engagement Team

2022-2023 was a return to a full complement of in-person programming within the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Team. While there were numerous activities which took place during the year (Strathcona Heights Fun Day, Winter Carnival, Iftar event), we would like to highlight three in particular.

In the summer of 2022, for the first time, Sandy Hill Community Health Centre provided a six-week camp in Strathcona Heights. Campers participated in a variety of activities on a daily basis, and went on several outings to museums and theme parks. There were 45 participants supported by 7 staff and 15 volunteers. All of the staff were hired as part of the Youth Services Bureau Summer Employment Program (5 of whom were residents of Strathcona Heights), allowing us to meet one of the identified neighborhood needs of supporting young people with employment opportunities.

In the fall of 2022, a re-vamped after-school program was launched. Previously called the Super Learners Club and taking place at Viscount Alexander Public School, this program became a casualty of COVID-19 due to our inability to enter the school space. Running directly in Strathcona Heights, we registered 25 children throughout the year, with a regular daily attendance of 15 students. With the support of a private donor, 3 staff were hired to provide tutoring, mentorship and supervision. Four students from the University of Ottawa, who were completing their Community Service Learning for specific classes, also joined us from January to April for added support. During the program, various engaging activities were offered, such as Awesome Arts workshops with Multi-Cultural Artists for Schools and Communities (MASC), I Love to Dance classes (in partnership with City of Ottawa), soccer (with Ottawa Cougars Soccer), art group (with Ottawa School of Art) and engineering workshops with the University of Ottawa Engineering Department. With the success of this year’s program, we will need to find a larger space to accommodate the demand for critical hours support to families.

Noshin performing at the Awesome Arts Festival Bharatanatyam artist, Stuti Mukherjee performing at the Awesome Arts Festival

January to March 2023 also saw the reappearance of Awesome Arts taking place within schools. Partial funding came from Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, which helped to offer 70 workshops, 12 artist residencies, welcome 186 workshop participants and 200 festival showcase attendees. A new addition was the vernissage held the day after the festival at Arts Court, which saw 30 people come to take part in workshops facilitated by MASC artist Louie Mercier. The vernissage featured the drawings, paintings and murals which were created as part of the program.

Moving forward, the CDE team will be looking to find other organizations to partner with, as well as internal SHCHC teams in order to support a wider portion of the community.

Soccer activity with After-School Program participants

I Love to Dance workshop

Client Access Team (CAT) and Addictions and Mental Health Services (AMHS) Team

New social services walk-in

Following a period of offering alternative social service walk-in supports during the pandemic, and as a result of a thorough planning process to propose a post-pandemic structure, CAT relaunched our formal social services walk-in hours in the new year. Along with a change in schedule to increase access, the team developed a new social service walk-in space in collaboration with the property management team, with the goal of creating a warm, welcoming environment for clients, and a social services “hub”.

Care CoordinationJosée Anne Gauthier

In 2021, we implemented a Care Coordination role. This new role was intended to meet the needs of clients who were lost in the addiction and mental health system, and who experienced relatively more stable social determinants of health. For example, clients and their families may have received more acute care at a hospital and left with a list of resources, perhaps some referrals, but no real timeline or clear instructions for next steps. Enter our Care Coordinator, whose main role is to create system level treatment plans, and help guide clients and their loved ones throughout the system. Of course, this work is made easier by being embedded in a CHC with access to multidisciplinary teams of providers.

In her time in this role, Josée Anne Gauthier has served 235 clients in various ways. She has supported her colleagues with information, referral and general support in helping them understand the addiction and mental health system and services in Ottawa and in the province. This new role has provided an invaluable service to clients, and undoubtedly has contributed to staff wellness by ensuring that providers can focus on their role and know who to reach out for support when needed.

The staff at the Central Reception are always eager, welcoming, and patient in addressing my questions.

Onboarding of new AMHS clients

The Client Access Team is a team of social workers and social service workers who have a diversity of advanced skills in multiple areas related to psychosocial services. In 2023, they implemented a new client on-boarding system that enhanced client engagement, reduced no-show rates, and furthered electronic access to care.

Holiday cheer for our clients

Every year for the past fifteen years, the SHCHC have given out hundreds of pairs of heavy, woolen socks to some of our clients who need them the most. The warm socks are stuffed with toiletries, food items and other useful things, offered by some of our community partners with extreme generosity.

This year in particular, when many organizations were struggling to meet the needs of community members, we appreciated the socks and toiletries even more, because this supported us to carry on this fun annual project that helps so many people have a bit of cheer at a cold time of the year.

With the uptake in virtual services, it was imperative to create new ways to confirm client consent, communicate informed consent and onboard clients to our Symptom Management Tool. In addition to supporting clients through their initial engagement with treatment, the client access workers coordinated the administrative process and optimized it for efficient clinical client care.

Oasis Program

It has been an active year for the Oasis Program, as the services continued to navigate the provision of care during the health crisis of COVID-19 amidst the community’s growing opioid toxicity. Adding to this, in last August, the program underwent construction as well as a shift in leadership. The Program’s long-time Director, Rob Boyd, left the Centre in October to pursue the Executive Director role at Inner City Health, and a new Director, Wendy Stewart, started with us in late February. Despite these obstacles, our amazing staff continued to ‘dig deep’ and to show up in meaningful ways for the complex people with whom we work, continuing to grow the number of contacts and connections, including a recent partnership with Wabano –for an Indigenous group on Fridays in our Drop-In space.

As the rest of us talk about recovering from the pandemic and look forward to going back to the ‘way things were’, it became clear from the community – neighbours, business owners and local service providers – that there is growing unrest with the impacts on the neighbourhood in relation to the lack of affordable housing to those who live in poverty, and/or those who rely on the unregulated drug supply to ease their every day pain as they continue to live outside mainstream society. In response, the Centre partnered with the City of Ottawa to host a series of community consultations between February and April 2023. The intent was to encourage and create collaborative new ways to keep our community safe and healthy for everyone and, moving forward, to determine what our specific role will be in this.

Over the last two years, we have seen that our world can change dramatically to help reduce harm to society. The team at Oasis has come out of this stronger and focused from the lessons learned from the pandemic, as we are actively working to find solutions to mitigate the effects of those who cannot secure housing, and who are affected by the toxic drug supply.

Details of the clients seen this year within Oasis Program services

Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS)

April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023, there have been 14,349 visits to CTS - a 21% drop in service provision, in comparison to the previous year, attributed as a result of decreased access to booths during August construction, as well as CTS closures as a result of short staffing.

In more detail:

• 14,349 visits - 785 of unique clients (average of 18 visits/year)

 583 men - age range 20-66 years

 196 women - age range 16-62 years

 3 transgendered females and 3 gender not specified - age range 24-35 years

• Two-thirds of the clients utilizing the CTS also utilized the program’s Complex Urban Primary Care services.

• 556 interventions related to overdoses at the clinic (inside and outside the CTS)

 296 of those aforementioned overdoses occurred within the CTS; 70% of those were resolved/reversed by our staff, thus mitigating calls to overburdened First Responders and overall medical system.

Primary Care Clinic

Access to low-barrier primary care offered by a team of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners and Nursing staff to people using toxic drug supply or being involved in sex trade, at risk of Hepatitis B and C:

 871 unique clients/patients

 7 visits/client/year, approximately

The community also has access to Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT), which has been found to be more effective than non-pharmacological therapies alone when supporting people in treatment for an opioid use disorder. OAT is also suppressing the use of illicit drugs.

 302 active patients involved in the clinic, with an average of 8 visits per year.

I would like to thank our Board, Executive Director, Director Colleagues, Team Leaders, staff and community for their guidance, support, openness, and transparency to discuss opportunities moving forward. These have made my transition into this very busy role much more manageable. This was instrumental in shaping our upcoming deliverables as a program for SHCHC.

Opioid Agonist Treatment Program (OAT)

- Wendy Stewart, Director of Oasis Program

of client and community member attendances to personal development groups Number of clients seen for Substance Use and Problem Gambling or Case Management Number of clients seen in Primary Care Number of clients seen for chronic disease prevention and management

Note: the above statistics include all programs across the Centre.

I like exercising with others, and find it hard to exercise on my own. An online live exercise class is perfect. Convenient because I don’t have to leave my house, but social as we can interact with each other. Thank you for offering it! - Client

Quality primary care indicators

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the continuous support of our funders, community partners, Mr. George Gaty and family, and other private donors. For complete details, please refer to the audited financial statements and notes available on the Centre’s website.

We are proud to be part of the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres of Ottawa.

@SandyHillCHC

Sandy Hill Community Health Centre

CMHA - Canadian Mental Health Association CAMH - Centre for Addictions and Mental Health

Sandy Hill CHC

Our mission

Every one in our community will have an equitable opportunity for health and well-being.

Our vision

To lead and innovate in personcentred primary health care and community well-being.

For 48 years, the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has been dedicated to meeting the health needs of a diverse community that is rich in terms of people, culture and heritage. We are grateful for the strength of commitment of our Board of Directors, the dedication of our staff and volunteers and the allegiance of our corporate supporters. Most of all, we are grateful for what we learn from our clients, who work so hard to find success and make a healthy life for themselves, their families and for their community.

Board of Directors Leadership Team

Design: Cristina Coiciu

Cover photo: Artist Nicole Belanger (MASC) working with After-School Program participants