Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) has teamed up with local organizations to provide ultrasound services to the city’s vulnerable population.
The partnership will make ultrasound imaging available at the Street Health Centre on Barrack Street, which serves those who need low-threshold, barrier-free access to primary care and addiction services.
“Often with this population, attending the hospital can be very stigmatizing and anxiety-provoking. So we were looking at, well, how could we reduce that so that we could try to improve the care to that population?” said Cindy Bolton, the director of community partnerships for KHSC.
The technology will scan the liver for signs of hepatitis C and the team at Street Health says having a diagnostic liver ultrasound is vital to developing a treatment plan.
Bolton explains that there is currently a high no-show rate among clients with as many as eight of 10 patients not showing up for their ultrasound appointment at hospitals.
“So not only is that delaying the treatment plan for the population, it means that time slot typically at the Hotel Dieu site is not being used. So we started to think about ways to do things differently,” said Bolton.
“Clearly coming to the hospital was not something that was seen as easy for clients at street health to do, for lots of reason including stigma,” she added.
The ultrasound was dropped off at Street Health last week, and once the technological testing is completed, patients will be able to access this service.