The clinic that love built
Volunteer-run centre serving city’s uninsured finds a permanent home in 107-year-old church
For weeks, volunteer Mark Gomes has been working around the clock to help transform an old two-storey church rectory into a one-of-a-kind medical centre.
At times, Dr. Paul Caulford has traded his stethoscope for electronic screwdrivers and hammers to help with whatever small tasks he could to get the facility ready for operation.
Volunteers and donors would drop off anything from baby food to patient examination beds and other used medical equipment, while drug companies such as Teva Pharmaceutics delivered free generic medications to stock the clinic’s drug cabinets.
On Friday, they will all be celebrating the grand opening of the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Health Care on Sheppard Ave. E., just west of Midland Ave., in Scarborough, with an open house that runs through the weekend.
In a sense, this is the clinic that love built.
After 15 years of operation, and several moves, the former Volunteer Health Clinic for the Uninsured has finally found a permanent home in the 107-year-old manse of Knox Presbyterian Church Agincourt.
The new 2,800-square-foot facility will house a medical clinic, a dental clinic, pediatric services, midwifery and diagnostic imaging programs, chiropractic and massage services, and a foot care clinic all under one roof. It will be run by medical professionals volunteering their time and will serve some of the GTA’s most vulnerable residents — the undocumented and uninsured.
“They are like Doctors Within Borders,” said Gene Burns of the Rotary Club of Scarborough, which has donated $100,000 to help the centre purchase equipment including a dental chair ($18,000), a sterilizer ($5,500) and a patient examination bed ($1,500).
“One of the axioms of the Rotary Club is Service above Self. We see that happening here. It’s about people helping people.”
The old clinic opened in 2000 with three volunteers, a car and a fishing tackle box. Through the years, it has seen more than 25,000 patients who are not yet covered by OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan) and migrants who live under the radar.
Caulford said the number of patients at the clinic has tripled since Ottawa introduced cuts to refugee health care in 2012, and the needs just keep growing.
“We’ve been operating two evenings a week, from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with a pediatric clinic on Saturdays. At times, it’s so crowded that it feels more like crowd control here. And it dawned on us that we needed more space, more hours,” said Caulford.
“The new centre will be a full-time clinic. Our plan is to create a clinic that’s the same as the ones you and I use, with the same quality.”
Clinic co-founder Jennifer D’Andrade, a public health nurse, hopes the permanent medical centre, with the new motto “Where Care Matters More Than a Card,” will ultimately be open six days a week given sufficient voluntary staffing.
“This will be great for families. Transportation costs so much and this is one place that can respond to all their needs. This is just awesome,” said D’Andrade.
Rev. Harry Bradley of the Presbyterian Church said the congregation was thrilled when approached by the clinic to rent the vacant manse late last year. The church is not only leasing the property to the centre at a very reasonable rate, but is donating a $12,000 wheelchair ramp.
“This is a good way to meet the needs of people who come to this country. There are always gaps in between when you arrive and when you get status,” said Bradley.
“They are like Doctors Within Borders. One of the axioms of the Rotary Club is Service above Self. We see that happening here. It’s about people helping people.” GENE BURNS ROTARY CLUB OF SCARBOROUGH
“These doctors and nurses volunteer their time and provide for the basic needs of these people that we don’t see, for care that we all take for granted in Canada. How can you not admire something like that?”
Mark Gomes fled Guyana for Canada with his wife and three kids in 2003 and filed a refugee claim based on persecution. The family was refused asylum in 2007 and subsequently lost their health care while they waited in Toronto for their humanitarian application. They became permanent residents in 2012.
Early this year when he learned the clinic that his family once relied on had found a permanent home, the trades contractor volunteered, along with his crew, to help with the renovation.
“If you have needs, you can come to the clinic and they don’t judge you,” said Gomes, while painting a new washroom with his wife, Jackie. “We got a lot of help here. We just wanted to give back even though it’s just a small part. We are glad we can pay it forward to help others.”