Portable OutReach Care Hub (PORCH)
A community collaboration to confront inequity by improving access
What happens when you take front-line health and social service staff on the road in a retro-fitted RV? The Portable OutReach Care Hub happens!
PORCH provides health care and community services to those who may face barriers to accessing care, particularly those facing homelessness.
How does PORCH work?
PORCH offers a variety of services, based on the staff on the RV at each location, who may be from various partner agencies, such as Maltby Centre, Home Base Housing, KFL&A Public Health, and Queen’s Department of Psychiatry, in addition to Kingston Community Health Centres.
Some examples of these partnerships in action:
When Street Health Centre’s Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses and Outreach Workers are on board, they offer services, including:
- Testing and treatment follow-up (Hep C, STIs, etc.)
- Basic wound care
- Psychiatry
- Rapid Access to Addiction Medicine (RAAM)
- In-take and community referrals
Youth Wellness Hub Ontario (YWHO) offers:
- Youth engagement
- Primary care
- Sexual health testing and treatment
- Counselling and mental health supports
Why is PORCH needed?
There are many individuals in the community experiencing or at risk of homelessness, as well as those seeking wellness services or struggling with mental health and substance use. It has been challenging to engage some folks and encourage them to visit the Street Health Clinic of KCHC, although they are in great need of health-care services, and connection to additional community services.
The Street Health team identified this need and reached out to partners who had also felt the impact of these challenges to delivering care.
Where you can find PORCH?
To attain our main goal of removing barriers and improving access, PORCH:
- hits the roads for urban and rural locations, three to four days/week.
- supports folks at the Integrated Care Hub, Tiny Homes, and a number of supportive housing units for both HomeBase Housing and AMHS.
- now offers services rurally to youth in KFL&A - a Youth Wellness Hubs of Ontario initiative
PORCH urban and rural sites include:
- Integrated Care Hub, 661 Montreal St
- Seven Oakes Motel, 2331 Princess St
- OLS - Tiny Homes, Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
- Comprehensive Integrated Housing, 35 Lyons St
- North Addington Education Centre
- Sharbot Lake with Maltby Centre
- Napanee High School
- Sydenham High School
To learn more about PORCH, or inquire about the schedule:
- email porch@kchc.ca, or
- call Katherine Cooper, NACHC Clinical Coordinator at 613-539-8398
PORCH support and partners
The Portable OutReach Care Hub is funded by the Ministry of Health, United Way KFL&A and Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC). PORCH has also been generously supported by: the Community Foundation of Kingston and Area, and the Davies Foundation.
We are so grateful for this funding support as it enables us to reach and support more people throughout the KFL&A region and bring on more partners to offer a wider variety of services.
Street Health of KCHC and United Way KFL&A collaborated with many community partners to bring PORCH to life on the road.