June 15. 2021 marks one year since RISE Community Health Centre opened its doors at 5198 Joyce Street! During RISE’s first year, we have seen incredible growth from five staff members to 21 staff members, and from a few patients when we started in our tiny clinic room at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) to over 400 patients.
Opening during the COVID-19 pandemic—and the pandemic lasting as long as it has—has created challenges RISE staff never anticipated. Nevertheless, staff have managed to have over 10,000 in-person and virtual client visits in our first year. We also had over 200 group sessions, including regular community visits to Kingsway Continental, Sarah Ross and Naomi Place—all non-market housing centres—in addition to CNH’s Morning Star and SAFE in Collingwood programs.
Some of the highlights of year one for RISE staff were:
“Building an amazing team, moving into a beautiful new space and supporting people that really need it.”
“Meeting different people and learning from them.”
“Seeing our team grow into this amazing RISE family.”
In Year 2 of operations, we hope to open the RISE non-profit pharmacy dispensary, continue expanding our staff and clients, and continue building relationships in the community. Staff are looking forward to the pandemic ending so we can further decrease the barriers to access for clients and have a grand opening for the public.
For more information about RISE, visit cnh.bc.ca/rise or call 604-558-8090.
RISE (Resilient, Integrative, Socially Just and Equitable) Community Health Centre connects Renfrew-Collingwood community members who have difficulty accessing health care to a health care team and social supports. RISE also provides health promotion programs and events to the broader Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. RISE is part of CNH, a non-profit society governed by a volunteer board of directors.