Construction of RISE Community Health Centre (CHC) is now complete and the long-awaited facility has officially opened its doors.
The facility, located at 5198 Joyce St., provides comprehensive primary health care and health promotion services to residents in Renfrew-Collingwood.
“We’ve listened to the people in Renfrew-Collingwood and have built on the good work their community organizations are already doing,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Now that RISE is open in its main location, in addition to the site at CNH, 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 health-care services.”
Prior to its opening on June 15, RISE has been offering limited services at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) since November 2019.
What is a community health centre?
Community health centres provide services tailored to meet the health needs of the community they serve. They are either community governed or community informed and they are most often not-for-profit organizations. RISE is governed, owned and operated by CNH.
Why RISE?
Since the closure of the Evergreen Community Health Centre Primary Care clinic in 2014, community members have been advocating to bring primary care services back to the neighbourhood.
CNH conducted extensive community engagement from 2018-2019 to ask local residents what type of services they felt were needed and what they would like to see. Since many residents 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 those consultations, RISE was born and became a part of CNH. RISE stands for Resilience, Integrative, Socially Just and Equitable, and those are the values the Health Centre aspires to achieve.
The RISE approach specifically recognizes the social determinants of health that greatly influence individual and community health. In addition to providing direct medical care, RISE staff work with individuals and groups to address underlying social and economic factors that can negatively impact health and, in doing so, supports the health and resilience of the Renfrew-Collingwood community.
Space, staff and facility hours
The new RISE space is the embodiment of what the neighbourhood asked for, including a warm, inviting and colourful space that doesn’t “feel like a medical clinic.” The space includes bright yellow accents, a plant wall, a tea and water station, soft couches and spaces to gather.
The neighbourhood also asked for diverse staff that are representative of the community and also the key populations that will be accessing services. The 17 staff at RISE speak 13 languages between them, and come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds.
RISE is now in operation on Mondays and Tuesdays (9:30 am – 5:00 pm), Wednesdays and Thursdays (9:30 am – 7:00 pm), Fridays (9:30 am – 6:00 pm), and the first and third Saturday of the month (9:30 am – 3:30 pm).
RISE will continue to provide services from the clinic room at CNH on Joyce Street, including serving the Morning Start Breakfast Program and other programs as requested. Additionally, RISE will continue providing outreach to Sarah Ross Modular Housing and Kingsway Continental.
Precautions during COVID-19
Although services remain modified according to current COVID-19 guidelines, new referrals are being accepted by phone, email, and fax. In-person visits remain limited.
If you have clients that you think would benefit from our services, please do not hesitate to call: 604-558-8090 or email: risechc@cnh.bc.ca.
