Mobile clinics help Nova Scotians access health care

For some people in Nova Scotia, it’s more than a short drive to a hospital.

The same can be said about going to a GP (if they have one), going to a specialist or getting a COVID test done.

There are many barriers to accessing health care in our province, but Nova Scotia Health has found a solution for some: mobile clinics.

Tara Sampalli, who oversees all of Nova Scotia Health’s mobile clinics, said they are not new to Nova Scotia.

“We’ve always felt that mobile clinics are one of the other ways to improve access,” Sampalli said.

Shifting focus

When Post-Tropical Storm Fiona hit last September, Sampalli said mobile clinics began to focus more on primary care.

“The reduced access to primary care, for example, was really brought to a head by Fiona in Sydney, where many primary care practices had been affected,” said Sampalli.

“So we went there very quickly and set it up and offered care. We had our primary care nurses, public health personnel coming together with EHS paramedics to provide low level acute access to primary care.

“It really started to happen from there.”

Sampalli said she started looking at how mobile clinics could help communities that don’t have access to primary care and divert traffic from emergency departments, which are constantly overloaded.

Three types of clinics

Now Nova Scotia Health offers three types of mobile clinics across the province: primary care clinics, respiratory clinics, and pop-up clinics.

Each clinic is tailored to the needs of a specific community. The workforce also varies and includes practice nurses, physicians, health care workers, mental health and addiction care workers, paramedics, and general practitioners.

“There are different variations of these models because that’s how they’re meant to be,” explains Sampalli.

Sampalli said that at pop-up clinics, refilling and renewing prescriptions is one of the best services they offer, “which is very good because we definitely don’t want people going to the emergency department for simple things like that.”

A mobile clinic team also sees people with earaches, sore throats, skin irritations, cough and cold symptoms and other minor ailments.

Respiratory clinics are seasonal and “born out of the needs when there’s a surge in respiratory illnesses,” while the emergency department sees a surge in people as well.

There are restrictions

As with post-tropical storm Fiona, Nova Scotia Health has adapted its mobile clinics to provide post-incident services, such as mental health services following the recent Tantallon wildfire.

However, there are some services that a mobile clinic cannot provide.

“With pop-up clinics, just because they come and go, we don’t have to order tests for labs just because it requires follow-up and we don’t want to create something that can’t provide continuity of care,” Sampalli said.

And while the mobile clinic usually has access to a building along with the van, in some communities they have to “put everything in the van,” which Sampelli says isn’t always preferable.

However, despite some limitations, a mobile clinic sees an average of 80 patients per day. To date, more than 8,500 patients have been seen in mobile clinics across Nova Scotia.

And Sampalli said Nova Scotia Health is considering expanding the services offered at its mobile clinics. She said they are currently looking at specialist clinics for conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“These will continue to evolve as needed,” she said.

Sampalli encouraged people to visit Nova Scotia Health’s website to see where and when mobile clinics are offered, as well as specific information about each clinic, such as whether it’s a walk-in clinic or if an appointment is required.