{"id":82530,"date":"2024-07-03T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=82530"},"modified":"2024-07-22T13:18:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T17:18:55","slug":"its-about-giving-them-hope-and-purpose-ottawa-inner-city-healths-block-leaders-program-marks-one-year-serving-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/its-about-giving-them-hope-and-purpose-ottawa-inner-city-healths-block-leaders-program-marks-one-year-serving-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s about giving them hope and purpose\u201d: Ottawa Inner City Health\u2019s Block Leaders program marks one year serving the community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meet Block Leaders Melvis (left), Michel (middle) and Carlos (right).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a warm late spring morning in the ByWard Market. Soon, the streets will fill with big buses and tourists keen to explore the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, it\u2019s quiet \u2014 except for a conspicuous group of people wearing bright red vests who are sprinkled throughout the Market, inspecting front stoops of businesses and peeking under stairwells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet the Block Leaders, members of a new program changing the lives of some of Ottawa\u2019s most vulnerable residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harnessing the power of peer support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In summer 2023, Ottawa Inner City Health (OICH) launched the Block Leaders pilot program, which helps support those who are unhoused or use drugs by recruiting people from this community to act as peer mentors. One year later, the program \u2014 and many of its participants \u2014 are thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day in the ByWard Market, Block Leaders head out in pairs to provide support to those in distress, help people who are unhoused secure beds at nearby shelters and respond to overdoses. Block Leaders help local businesses by waking up people who are sleeping outside storefronts and offering them coffee and muffins. They also help keep their neighbourhood clean by picking up litter and drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, more than 100 Block Leaders are enrolled in the program, which sees them venturing out into the community for two-hour shifts, six hours a day, seven days a week. OICH pays Block Leaders for their time and provides them with training, including for CPR and compassionate communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
In the morning, a group of Block Leaders hits the road in the TELUS Health Mobile Health Clinic to wake up people who are sleeping outside of local businesses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For more than 20 years, OICH has improved access to health care for people in our community who are unhoused and have complex health needs, including those with chronic mental health and substance use issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis program is about giving them hope and purpose,\u201d says Rob Boyd, CEO of OICH. \u201cPeople who are unhoused and people who use drugs are the same as all of us. Their needs are the same, and the things that are going to help them recover and integrate are the same things that everybody needs. They need a job, a home, a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood community mental health is about feeling that we belong in our community, that we are making a contribution and that we have agency over ourselves,\u201d says Wendy Muckle, co-founder and former executive director of OICH and now a very active volunteer. \u201cAnd the Block Leaders program, in its own small way, builds the foundation for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Team
Team leader Kehinde prepares backpacks of supplies for the Block Leaders before they head out on their shifts, including cell phones (left), containers for collecting discarded needles and pipes (top right), and naloxone, a medication that can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose (bottom right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A program for the vulnerable, by the vulnerable<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Block Leaders program was born from meetings that OICH held with residents who are unhoused and use drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey told us about the impact of fentanyl on the street community,\u201d recalls Rob. \u201cSurvival became more desperate and people became more disconnected from each other. And then we hit the pandemic, and their world changed overnight. All of their support systems fell away \u2014 their ability to access care was limited. The people who had experienced trauma and loss were experiencing it all over again. Most of us have returned to our pre-pandemic lives, but this is not true of this community, who are still experiencing a heavy toll. Add on an affordable housing crisis, and you get a perfect storm of system failures that impact the most marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broader community is also feeling the effects of this shift, says Wendy. \u201cNow, we\u2019ve got a situation where the impacts on this vulnerable population are spilling over and impacting everybody \u2014 people who live here, people who visit here and the businesses,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was this vulnerable population who came up with a solution. \u201cThey wanted to reset the social norms of the street community, to go back to the way things were before COVID and before fentanyl, and start taking care of each other again,\u201d says Rob. \u201cSo, they came up with the idea of the Block Leaders program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wendy
Wendy Muckle (left) and the Mobile Health Clinic (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just one year into the program, that reset of social norms is already happening, reports Wendy. \u201cFor example, amongst people who use drugs, there\u2019s always been this convention that when children walk by, somebody calls a warning for others to put away or stop doing their drugs. That convention disappeared with fentanyl,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd now, that convention has reappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program has also had an unintended \u2014 but very welcome \u2014 outcome. \u201cThe program has gotten people job ready. We didn\u2019t anticipate this would happen so quickly,\u201d reports Rob. \u201cWe\u2019ve had people who\u2019ve left the program and moved into housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses and residents are seeing a difference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom talking with a few businesses, they\u2019re pleased with what they\u2019re seeing,\u201d reports Zachary Dayler, Executive Director of the ByWard Market District Authority, which supports and advocates for the ByWard Market district, including local businesses. \u201cFor example, some business owners have told me that the Block Leaders have helped with people who\u2019ve come into their shops and caused a disturbance. In the past, that would probably have led to a call to police or security, but the Block Leaders talked to them and deescalated the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents like Jamine Ackert are also pleased with what they\u2019re seeing \u2014 less litter, now that Block Leaders are helping tidy up the neighbourhood. \u201cI thank them every day we see them out there. All the residents of my condo are thrilled,\u201d says Jamine, who\u2019s president of the board of directors for a condominium development beside the Shepherds of Good Hope shelter, where the Block Leaders program got started. \u201cNow, I\u2019m giving back to the Block Leaders by offering them mindful photography workshops at OICH.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ByWard Market District Authority has also partnered with OICH, hosting the Block Leaders during their patrols in the Market. With the program already showing promise, Zachary is considering expanding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next phase would be looking at welcoming the Block Leaders to other streets throughout the ByWard Market district,\u201d he says, \u201cand whether to turn this pilot program into a permanent program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear from the Block Leaders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love to help people, so this is my opportunity,\u201d says Block Leader Carlos, right before his shift. \u201cI want to help people, save people and save lives. I try to help people even when I\u2019m not on shift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI fell in love with the program,\u201d says Kehinde. \u201cHelping the community, improving the community, saving people\u2019s lives \u2014 I think it\u2019s a lovely thing for me to do. It\u2019s been a lovely program to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a Block Leader for nine months. Now, I\u2019m a supervisor of the Block Leaders,\u201d says Diane. \u201cThey\u2019re all my kids! They\u2019re so sweet!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ottawa Hospital and Ottawa Inner City Health: A partnership spanning decades<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ottawa Hospital was a big player in the start up of Ottawa Inner City Health and continues to give us lots of different kinds of support,\u201d explains Wendy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, all physicians at OICH also work at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), a partnership that helps integrate care provided in hospitals and in the community. TOH\u2019s former chief of staff, Dr. Jeff Turnbull, co-founded OICH and, until very recently, served as the organization\u2019s medical director, dedicating his days<\/a> to caring for some of our city\u2019s most vulnerable patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Wendy and Dr. Turnbull founded OICH in 2001, the not-for-profit has grown to become a staple of our community, launching an array of programs and services<\/a> to ensure that people facing barriers to good health receive the same quality of care as other Canadians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven days a week, Block Leaders head out into the ByWard Market to help fellow members of their community who are unhoused or use drugs. They provide support to people in distress, respond to overdoses and even clean their neighbourhood \u2014 all with the goal of creating a safer and healthier community for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":82531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[177,480,404],"class_list":["post-82530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-community-engagement","tag-compassion","tag-working-together"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}