April 8, 2022

Thank you to ‘100 Women Who Care Guelph’!

The Guelph/Wellington Van Team would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’ to 100 Women Who Care Guelph for their generous donation to our Mobile Community Health Van Program. The Van program provides accessible harm reduction support and supplies, social support, and nursing care to individuals in Guelph and Wellington County. Our outreach team includes a registered nurse, peer support worker, and social support worker all of whom work to build relationships with those who visit the van, as well as build connections to other community and health services.  We also collaborate with other local services and agencies such as Legal Aid to bring information and referrals to folks who can’t easily access mainstream support.  

Sanguen believes in providing barrier-free health care and support using an interdisciplinary approach.  We provide Hepatitis C testing, information and treatment, wound care for abscesses and blisters, vein care, rapid testing for HIV and Hep C, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and counselling on safer sex and birth control. We also provide COVID-19 testing and vaccination, overdose prevention support and naloxone, and collection of used injection equipment. The Community Health Van also distributes food, hygiene items and clothing on our regular stops across Guelph and Wellington County.  With generous support from organizations such as 100 Women Who Care Guelph we are able to purchase essential items for the van such as socks, hats, mitts, snacks, hygiene products (sunscreen, soap, shampoo, and sanitizer), blankets, clothing, and phones.    

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the way individuals who face barriers to care have been able to access support in the community.  Over the past two years the Community Health Van has been heavily focused on providing as many items as possible to help alleviate the lack of access to resources, service, and basic necessities due to the pandemic. Some of these items include diapers, footwear, meal replacements, pet food, and camping supplies. With new stops added to Wellington County (Harriston, Palmerston, Arthur, Rockwood, Mount Forest, Erin, Fergus), we are working to better support harm reduction, overdose prevention and social support for those facing barriers in rural areas.

Thank you to 100 Women Who Care Guelph for choosing us as the recipients!  With your support we can continue our work to bring health care and support directly to those who need it in Guelph and Wellington County!

With many thanks,

The Guelph/Wellington Van Outreach Team