Since June 2020, Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) has offered health care to residents of Renfrew-Collingwood through RISE Community Health Centre. Using a team-based approach that recognizes the social determinants of health, RISE operates a primary care clinic and not-for-profit pharmacy. Additional services include harm reduction, community development and health promotion.
We share some highlights from staff about their experiences working with RISE and what makes it different from traditional healthcare providers.
Meet Tharuna, RISE family physician
Over the last four years, Tharuna Abbu has worked as a family physician at RISE. Learning about RISE through friends familiar with the community health centre, Tharuna said they were drawn to the team-based approach and general model.
“I understood [RISE] to be quite embedded in community and responsive to really local needs,” said Tharuna. “I really liked that as a contrast to a more top-down approach.”
Four years later, they have continued working as a physician at RISE.
In your four years of working at RISE, what has your experience been like?
“I think it says a lot that I am still here in this role and still very happy in this role. I would say that this is probably the best team of human beings who work here [and] the best team that I have ever worked with. Not only do we work well professionally as a team but we all genuinely like each other, seem to get along and can have fun together, which I think goes a long way in making a sustainable workplace.
“It’s also amazing to be in a workplace where there are so many other BIPOC people and other queer people. That’s pretty special. I haven’t come across that in a lot of other work placements.”
What are some highlights of working with the clients that you serve?
“I love the community here. I used to live in the neighbourhood, so it’s really familiar for me but it’s really lovely to go for a walk on my lunch break and see our clients out and about living their lives. [I] get to connect with them in a more organic way and glimpse [into] other bits of their life that I maybe otherwise would not get to do in a regular clinic setting.
“I feel like the neighbourhood itself [is] so engaged. The people who live here and who come to the clinic are keen to be involved with the neighbourhood house and also with the clinic. They’ve really helped us co-create programming and services that they want to see and that’s been really, really cool. There are some special, unique things that RISE has been able to create, specific to the needs of the people who live here.”
What has surprised you about working here?
“It’s not surprising but I feel like you see hard-working, lovely people struggling so hard in every system and they’re also getting hit from all sides. They’re struggling with housing, immigration, childcare [and] affording basic healthcare services like vision care or dental services.
“That’s not everybody in this community but this community embodies all of the ways that our systems aren’t serving people and are letting so many people, especially the working poor, fall through the cracks completely. So that is surprising to see the breadth of how many people and how many families are affected. “
And that goes back to the community healthcare model.
“Totally. And I think something special about working at RISE is even though we’re not necessarily able to change the broader system, we’re able to do some small part that maybe helps one person or one family succeed through those barriers and get to that next place. That’s been great. We collectively all celebrate every deportation that was stopped, we collectively celebrate every person who found new housing that we were so worried [about]. We’re all rooting for everybody’s success and that’s just nice to work in an environment like that.
“I don’t want to make it sound like we’re in a clinic that will magically solve everybody’s problems. We don’t have the capacity for that but I think within the capacity that we do have, we’re a team that wants to try to make that difference, and push and try and advocate for people. I wish that we could clone this clinic.”
RISE is currently hiring. Who do you think should apply to work here?
“I think this is an excellent workplace for community-minded people, especially folks who have an orientation to what justice means in a broad and fairly political way. I would say that many of our staff are actively reflective in terms of the political landscape and all of the barriers that people face.
“The staff here are pretty similar in terms of our core values and our approach to things. I think we’re a clinic that welcomes people who want to jump in, who have ideas and who have relationships with this community, especially [those who] can run with ideas in this clinic. There’s a lot of staff who meet our clientele and they get an idea. They’re like, ‘I want to make this program happen’ and then we often are able to find a way to do that.”
Is there anything else you would want other healthcare professionals to know about working at RISE?
“As a physician, it’s an interesting model. I am salaried, which is uncommon for doctors. At the same time, I have not batted an eye at that. There are lots of benefits to having a known, steady stream of income and not having to worry about how many patients I see in a day or if patients are a no-show. I feel like it alleviates a lot of that pressure.
“So, that’s something specific to physicians that I think people should keep in mind and chat with clinic managers about but otherwise, it’s a pretty excellent place to work. I’ve totally enjoyed my time here at RISE. I’m going on parental leave but I fully intend on coming back.”
Learn more about career opportunities at RISE Community Health Centre at cnh.bc.ca/careers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.