Diabetes care on wheels: Mobile clinic cares for homeless, low-income patients

Reaching into his kitchen cupboard, Jeremy Auger pulled out fruit roll-ups, Pop Tarts, potatoes and oatmeal he’d found in a food hamper from a church.

“It’s high in carbs,” he told CBC host Dr. Brian Goldman. white coat, black artIn her Calgary apartment.

The amount of carbs matters, because a person with late-onset type 1 diabetes needs to closely monitor their carbohydrate intake.

Until recently, the 34-year-old says her blood sugar levels were “all over the place.”

That’s why he visits endocrinologist Dr. David Campbell and other staff at the Diabetes Mobile Clinic.

The bus, as it’s often called, delivers care directly to places like Alex Community Health Center, where people who are homeless or low-income can go.

When diabetic patients can’t find housing, they are less likely to get “the high-quality care they need,” says Campbell, associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.

Without that care, complications of diabetes can result in amputations, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke.

Health care staff on the bus can provide foot care, as well as perform tests such as retina scans, blood and urine tests, with results returned within minutes.

Other staff help people with their diets or connect them with housing or counseling programs.

“We’re a one-stop-shop,” said Erin Dartnell, a registered nurse at the mobile clinic.

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in Canada. About 10 percent of Canadians are diagnosed with type 1 or 2 diabetes, That percentage is expected to increase within nine years, According to Diabetes Canada,

Research by Campbell and others shows the risk of death is higher And Diabetes related health problems compared to those experiencing homelessness who have stable housing and regular access to preventive health care.

“With all diabetes care, trying to be more proactive about it,” Campbell said.

Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, a physician, researcher and professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, says there is a “huge gap” in diabetes care for people with unstable or unhoused housing.

how it works

The four staff who staffed the diabetes bus each Wednesday could see an average of five to 10 patients that day.

Some have appointments, others are walk-ins.

“The whole purpose of the mobile program is to meet clients where they are, just because of the barriers they may face,” said Lindsay Huard, whose job it is to help patients access community programs.

That’s a change for patients like Auger. When he was living on the streets five years ago, he received what Campbell calls episodic care from an endocrinologist.

“He would see them once or twice and then fall off the radar and was discharged from his caseload because he missed an appointment and needed a new referral,” explains Campbell, adding that the wait time for an endocrinologist can be six to 12 months.

Since visiting the diabetes mobile clinic, Auger says his blood sugar levels have stabilized due to the change in insulin medication and leerning How to improve his diet.

Auger no longer has to worry about paying for transit to reach multiple appointments. She can get most of the care she needs through a mobile clinic.

“It’s awesome. It’s so much easier than having to go to all the places we normally go to get the care we need,” she said.

Campbell says that in addition to hearing from patients like Auger, they’re also conducting a study to determine whether diabetes is simply improving people’s health.

status of pilot project

The idea of ​​mobile clinic is not new. Traveling clinics are used for other areas of health care breast cancer screening To Mental health and addictions care,

The mobile diabetes clinic in Calgary is in the second year of a two-year pilot project funded through grants and donations. Campbell says recently secured funding will extend the pilot for 18-24 months beyond July 2026.

His dream is that mobile clinics become a regular part of the health care system.

But Dasgupta says that could be a challenge in this country.

Some have said that Canada is “Country of Sustainable Pilot Projects.”

Dasgupta, who is currently researching how to create and scale diabetes prevention programs in Canada, says that doesn’t need to be the case.

“We can’t let those pilot projects be like a dead end. You get something done, have a little celebration and then no one acts on it. That’s part of the problem,” he said.