I'll introduce Patti in the context of what the organization is.
First of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Before I begin, I want to concur with everything Tim and Louise said. We don't want to repeat that, but we support everything they've already said.
The North End Community Health Centre is a community health centre that follows the full philosophy of community health centres that you see throughout Ontario and Quebec, primarily. We are an independent, non-profit organization that is staffed by an interdisciplinary team that has been operating for just over 37 years in the North End, or the inner part of Halifax. Some of our staff have worked there for upwards of 25 to 30 years. They have made that strong commitment to the needs of citizens living in the North End who have a lot of experience with poverty and with trying to maintain an adequate status of health.
One thing I want to point out, before I hand it over to Patti, is the fact that our staff has worked consistently to try to bridge areas between poverty and health care and to point out to the federal government that the health care system is not sustainable and is not equitable across the board. When you look at Tommy Douglas's reference to the second stage of medicare, we cannot assure that all clients have access to health care. There's no access to pharmacare and no access to dental health. Least of all is access to certain diagnostic treatments that are necessary. That's just some context.
Our staff works diligently to assist in breaking down barriers so as to ensure access to treatment and diagnosis.
I'll let Patti talk a little more about the specifics of one of our programs.