A mobile outreach team in Lanark County has been launched with the aim to connect vulnerable residents with health care, housing and addiction support services. The Lanark Integrated Frontline Team (LIFT), which includes a paramedic, mental health social worker and nurse practitioner, provides care directly in the community for people facing housing instability, substance use challenges and barriers to accessing traditional health services.

Currently, the program is working with more than 70 clients and has carried out approximately 440 visits between mid-December and April. “A lot of these folks, they get kind of detached from the system. Maybe they’re not so trusting. Going in there and building the rapport to bridge that gap … That’s a huge focus of the program,” said Reid Burton, a social worker with LIFT in his interview with CBC News.

The LIFT team operates using a converted Lanark County ambulance outfitted with cardiac, urinary and basic blood testing equipment. Moreover, it offers snacks, fresh clothes and tick removal kits as well as harm reduction supplies including naloxone, clean supplies and drug-testing gear. “A lot of the folks that we meet are not people that I’ve seen on the 911 side, they actually try to avoid medical care,” said Angie Wallace, a LIFT paramedic. “We try to be like a one-stop shop whether you need help with your rent or you need a heart test, we can do it for you.”

LIFT is a pilot program funded by Health Canada for two years. Currently, there are plans in the work to expand the program to a second team that could focus on more of Lanark County. “We’re not an emergent crisis response team by all means. That’s 911. However, based on the vulnerable populations that we deal with, we sometimes don’t know what we’re going to walk into,” Jessica Cook, the LIFT nurse practitioner, told CBC. “I was able to treat them and provide care for them, [provide] medications and referrals and what was a positive experience for them. We’ve already started to see a difference and I think it’s only the beginning for the county.”