Since September, McMaster’s School of Nursing (along with the Refuge Hamilton Centre for Newcomer Health and local school boards) has administered a health and wellness centre to benefit Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School and Cathedral High School. The program is overseen by a nurse practitioner, and assisted by third-year nursing students from a professional practice community course.

Both schools have a diverse population with a variety of healthcare needs and barriers. Their students come from a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, and both are identified as having a “high risk” population of youth with physical and mental health disorders.

Youth and children in Hamilton generally score lower in mental health indicators than their counterparts across the province. In one of the schools, over 30 per cent of the student population does not have access to a family doctor, and close to 50 per cent of their population does not speak English as a first language. Having a health and wellness centre is one way to fill this gap in services.

Funding for the project runs out in December, so organizers have turned to the Aviva Community Fund to try and keep the clinic open. The project has reached the third round of competition, but needs thousands of online votes to stay in the running.

Voting is open until Nov. 26, and if successful, the project will receive a $100,000 grant. Vote today!