In the fall of 1989, seventeen staff opened the doors to London’s first community health centre. Led by Shanthi Radcliffe, Executive Director, and Dr. Douglas Bocking, Board Chair, they provided sensitive and equitable health services for the city’s most vulnerable. In its first year, the London InterCommunity Health Centre served more than 1,500 clients, while offering community programming, health promotion and education focused on the needs of immigrant women and seniors.
The milestones achieved since are a testament to the passion and commitment of the community, volunteers and staff who have shaped our Health Centre. The accomplishments we celebrate include:
- the opening of Options, an anonymous HIV testing clinic
- the expansion of our services to support people who are homeless
- the addition of a Youth Outreach Worker team supporting at-risk youth in the city’s north east
- an innovative WrapAround program supporting isolated immigrant and francophone seniors
- the development of a trans health team to support trans-gendered individuals
- the expansion of street outreach services (care and treatment) for people living with Hep C and HIV (MyCare)
- the London’s Street Level Women at Risk partnership to support street-level sex trade workers
Today, the Health Centre staff team has reach over 100 employees who serve more than 7,000 clients. We stand out from other health care models because we focus on keeping people – and the communities where they live – in good health through primary care services, health promotion and community development.
We give people a voice and a choice about the services they receive and we connect clients to interprofessional health and social service providers. Together we help individuals and neighbourhoods achieve their health goals.