TORONTO – Ontario’s health minister sprang into action Tuesday when a member of the audience collapsed at a news conference where he was announcing plans for providing health care to people in Toronto homeless shelters.
Eric Hoskins, who is a doctor, tended to the man who was taken to a hospital. A ministry spokeswoman says the man is doing better.
Hoskins told those at the New Hope shelter that the province is working with the city to improve access to health services for people who are homeless or using shelters.
Toronto is beginning with a project in five new shelters across the city that will provide more than 300 beds to vulnerable people with often complex health needs.
The city and the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network are developing a framework for integrated health services in shelters that will be piloted in the five shelters before being expanded to other shelters.
LISTEN: Mayor John Tory discusses shelter beds announcement with AM640’s Kelly Cutrara
Funding and details of how this pilot project will be evaluated are to be determined as the project is finalized over the coming months.