At 70, Terry Aver is getting medical care for serious health conditions out of a van and a busy clinic in downtown Victoria. In two weeks’ time, that care will be available outside his front door. He lives in an apartment building on Burnside Road East, which has affordable and supportive units. On Sept. 9, the Cool Aid Society is opening a family medicine clinic on the main floor of the building, known as its Crosstown development. “One word: amazing,” Aver said. “I’m privileged and that’s the way I see it.” The clinic will serve people who have a particularly hard time getting health care, including those who have struggled with housing, substance use and mental illness. Until now, Aver has been a patient at Cool Aid’s mobile doctor’s office, a van with a small exam room and the non-profit’s other clinic on Johnson Street downtown. He said the medical care is the best he’s ever received, but he’s eager to have better access to Cool Aid’s doctors and nurses. “The improvement is it’s close. We don’t have to go to Johnson Street,” he said. “That’s really going to help a lot of people out because there’s some people with not good mobility.” The clinic is called the Dr. Joe Haegert Community Health Centre. It’s named after the founder of Cool Aid’s health-care program. Dr. Ryan Mader is one of 16 family physicians who have signed on to work at the clinic. He said the patients they’ll help have been struggling to access the medical system long before the primary care crisis began. “Once we get going, we’ll fill up very quickly,” Mader said. “Any additional primary care is golden for the Greater Victoria area.” Opening day will follow years of fundraising for the project. Cool Aid said construction cost $2.2 million and equipment cost $500,000. “It’s been over a decade of vision, of input, of funding requests,” said Mary Chudley, Cool Aid’s health and support services director. Chudley said Cool Aid already supports more than 6,000 patients. With the new clinic, it anticipates it will be able to help hundreds more. To learn whether you meet the criteria to become a patient, contact the clinic.
