The University of Windsor and GreenShield Canada continue to work together to expand access to mental health care and primary care services in the region.
The two organizations, along with Hotel Dieu-Grace Healthcare, started a partnership last summer that focuses on three areas: co-develop digital mental health training modules to help employers implement the CSA Standard for Psychological Safety in the Workplace; launch a new model to expand access to primary care; and support research opportunities for faculty and students.
The initiative came together after GreenShield Canada announced $2.5 million in funding to help underserved populations in the region.
GreenShield President and CEO Zahid Salman says they are currently working on an application for funding for a primary care clinic.
He says the clinic would be a nurse-led clinic.
“The clinic when it’s ready, so hopefully in the next year or so, it will be ready so a lot of people in West Windsor to start who don’t have family doctors will now be able to access care,” he says. “So that’s going to be very, very important, and that’s a big part of the Ontario government’s goal to have 100 per cent of everyone in the province with access to a family doc; this could be a big enabler of that.”
Salman says the clinic would assist individuals without family doctors.
“The first site is very close by here; it’s just going to be on Wyandotte and University, and it will serve mainly the university population, staff, and students to start, and then we want to take it broader into the community,” says Salman.
He says government funding is needed to launch the clinic within the next year.
Salman says planning is already underway.
“We’re getting it all set up now, so then we can make the application when the government puts out the applications for grants and hopefully be well positioned because it’s a top priority for the government,” says Salman.
As part of the partnership, the university renamed Windsor Hall on Ferry Street to GreenShield Hall.
The unveiling took place Friday morning at the hall that houses the School of Social Work.
Salman says the current partnership with the university is for three years.