Article content continued

Photo by Gavin Young / Calgary Herald

Just as he’s getting assessed, there’s a knock at the clinic door.

Nursing co-ordinator Genevieve Wright slips outside to answer it.

Standing out of the way as Yurkiewicz gets his vital signs checked, I’m unaware of the situation that Wright is handling outside the room until she brings me up to speed later: Upstairs, another DI client has taken some pills and is warning she’ll take more. The woman is whisked off to hospital in an ambulance.

It’s just another morning at the DI’s health clinic.

“We don’t know what our day will bring,” says Wright, a registered nurse and 25-year emergency room veteran who began working at the shelter’s health centre about five years ago.

The DI’s health and wellness program provides a variety of services to the shelter’s clients, many of whom suffer from addictions and mental health issues along with physical ailments.

As well, many of the patients seen at the two-room, nurse-run care centre have chronic diseases and must take several medications and have regular checkups to stay healthy.

Photo by Gavin Young / Calgary Herald

For clients of the homeless shelter who face many challenges getting by, minding their own health may fall far down the priority list, explains Wright.

That’s where the clinic, with its friendly, familiar faces and easy access, steps in.

The health centre provides a number of services, including wound care, the dispensation of medication, referrals to specialists and chronic disease management.

Staff must be prepared for everything from a cold and flu outbreak at the shelter, to taking care of patients with terminal cancer in between appointments with specialists.