This mobile warming centre in Thunder Bay brings services on board for the city's most vulnerable

For the more than 550 unsheltered people living in Thunder Bay, Ont., the sight of the Care Bus brings a wave of relief and much-needed warmth each winter.

The bus, operated by NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), is in its fifth year. It was born during the COVID-19 pandemic and has evolved to become an essential outreach platform for the community's most vulnerable.

"We want this to be a low-barrier service. We want individuals who access this service to have a safe place and to connect with people who understand, can listen to them, can talk to them about their life experiences," said NWCHC's executive director, Juanita Lawson.

Operations for the 2024-2025 season began Monday. The bus runs seven days a week from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. until the end of March 2025, serving as a mobile warming centre and key touch point for harm reduction services.

The program comes as shelter operators have noticed an influx of overnight clients earlier in the season than previous years.

"This [was] the first October that we've experienced Out of the Cold being at capacity or even at near capacity," said Melody Macsemchuk, operations manager for the overnight shelter program at Grace Place.

Grace Place acts as the overflow shelter space when clients can't access beds elsewhere. In order to meet demands, the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) announced funding in November for 40 additional emergency shelter spaces over the winter across Shelter House, Grace Place and Urban Abbey, bringing the total to 188 emergency spaces during the colder months.

"This year, [clients] are accessing them early, which is a good thing," Macsemchuk said. "That's what we want, and then we can react early as well before the big winter storms arrive."

The Care Bus has gone from having two staff on board at all times to three in order to manage the rising number of passengers.

Pop-up clinics offer primary care

Staffed by harm reduction workers, the Care Bus offers food and water, winter clothing, and harm reduction supplies — including naloxone, safer injection kits, safer smoking kits, safer sex kits, drug testing packages, and basic wound care packages.

Passengers are transported on a fixed route but can be dropped off at local services as needed, such as food banks, emergency shelters, health care, and detox and treatment centres.

This year, community partners will be holding pop-up clinics on board, "to offer vaccinations, check feet — especially for hypothermia or diabetes or especially when people are walking around with wet socks and shoes and boots — and making sure they have the resources that they need," Lawson said.

At the same time the Care Bus ends operations for the season, NWCHC will also be shutting down its safe consumption site, Path 525, due to new provincial rules around the sites' proximity to schools and child-care centres.

"The benefit of having harm reduction workers on the bus is because they can really connect with individuals," Lawson said.

"They become well versed and are well versed in the services available in our community, and really connect individuals with those services."

Meeting people where they're at

The Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre (TBIFC) is joining the Care Bus for a second year as outreach and co-lead on operational models.

Katie Bortolin, TBIFC's director of housing, said they'll be introducing their treatment aftercare co-ordinator and Indigenous mental health and wellness co-ordinator on the bus to offer further support.

In a recent point-in-time count of the city's unhoused population, 78 per cent of respondents said they were Indigenous. Bortolin said it's important to recognize the overlapping social issues facing the community's most vulnerable.

"It is really important that we are modeling client-centred work in a culturally-safe way, and recognizing that not all clients work in a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday lifestyle," Bortolin said.

"We really need to truly be out, meet people where they're at and make sure that the services and supports are looking at people in a holistic way."

After providing relief services on the bus last year, Bortolin said she sees "the compassion that the workers have and the authenticity that the workers have when they are showing up for people."

"There are some clients that we think about daily and we're hoping that are well, and we're hoping to see again on the bus."

Care Bus workers can be reached at 807-630-8631 during operating hours. Its hours will be extended when cold weather alerts are in effect.

Other homelessness prevention programs in the city include:

• People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE)'s warming centre at 510 Victoria Ave. E.
• Elevate NWO's warming centre at 106 Cumberland St. N.

Emergency shelter beds are available over the winter at:

• Shelter House Thunder Bay: 420 George St.
• Salvation Army Journey to Life Centre: 545 Cumberland St. N.
• Grace Place: 235 Simpson St.
• Urban Abbey: 308 Red River Rd.