Low-threshold services are based on putting out health care services and wrapping them around the client where they're at. Access to primary health care and to some of our clinics—we implemented five new sites in the downtown eastside in 18 months—is oftentimes still a barrier for people coming through the door. So it's really about bringing health care to where the people are at.
At Insite, we have provided services to over 7,000 people. We saw over 14,000 nursing interventions last year. That means that in walking through the front door, that client can get nursing support, wound and skin care, immunization, access to addiction treatment, and cures for their flu. Also, they can talk to somebody if they want to move to a place of recovery and change their life. If we weren't there, that client would be in an alleyway, a hotel room; they would be in a variety of other places in the neighbourhood, living in chaos and not accessing treatment services.
We have a contact centre, which is a low-threshold service. It contacts people from the street, gives them the skills they need to transfer from low-threshold services to higher treatment regimes. We also have peer-to-peer workers, and that's also low-threshold services, because oftentimes professionals themselves are barriers to enabling people to access treatment. We also carry a stigma towards this client population. It's very important for us to work in partnership with the community and peers in a low-threshold way.