Samaritan Centre nurse helps Sudbury's poor with health care

The homeless and low income population in Sudbury has a new resource for their health, now that a full-time registered nurse has been hired to work out of the Samaritan Centre's Corner Clinic.

Mathieu Chartrand, who started at the end of February, said he sometimes serves as a first-stop for patients.

"If it's an issue that can wait, I can make an appointment with the nurse practitioner or the doctor,” he said.

“And if they need a prescription, I can redirect them to a walk-in clinic instead of the emergency room."

Chartrand said he hopes to see 25 patients a week for hour-long consultations.

His position was created for a one-year term with funding from the North East Local Health Integration Network and Le Centre de Sante Communautaire.

Samaritan Centre client John McCoshen has visited Chartrand more than a dozen times.

"He helps me with my problems, if I need to see a nurse,” he said. “If there's somebody there every day it makes it a lot better."

McCoshen said he often neglects his health because of long lineups in the hospital emergency room or walk in clinics — and now, he doesn’t have to.

Chartrand said the patients he sees are different than at any other clinic in the city.

"Because we have a lot of mental health issues, we'll see different wounds related to drug use. We'll see alcoholism,” he said.

“[We’ll see people about] foot care because people don't take care and don't have any follow-ups with that."