July 2020
COMMUNITY NEWS
RenfrewCollingwoodCommunityNews.com
RISE has risen!
Newly renovated RISE Community Health Centre opened on June 15 by Sandra Bodenhamer The community had been advocating to bring primary care services back to the neighbourhood since the closure of the Evergreen Community Health Centre Primary Care clinic in 2014. Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) conducted extensive community engagement from 2018 to 2019 to ask local residents what services they felt were needed and what they would like to see in the design of RISE. Since many of our neighbours face barriers to accessing medical care, such as English literacy, lack of support, social isolation, poverty and stigma, a community health centre model was chosen to support health in a holistic way. From the 2018–19 consultations RISE Community Health Centre was born, as part of CNH. RISE stands for resilient, integrative, socially just and equitable, and those are the values the health centre aspires to achieve. “Now that RISE is open in its main location, more people will be able to get the care they need when they need it. This will make a difference for those who have been struggling to access healthcare services,” said Adrian Dix, the B.C. minister of health.
The staff at RISE, located at 3425 Crowley Drive and Joyce, provide medical care and services to support the health of the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. Photos courtesy of CNH.
RISE Community Health Centre is different from a regular doctor’s office. The RISE approach recognizes that the social determinants of health
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Courtesy printing of Adrian Dix, MLA Vancouver-Kingsway
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