Pop-up clinic in Truro offers jabs and health check-ups for the homeless
Officials are hoping the walk-in events will continue to support those who are struggling
Last updated 2nd Feb 2022
Truro has held another pop-up clinic, offering vaccines and other health check-ups to help the homeless.
This was the ninth of its kind being run by Health for the Homeless across the Duchy since September and focussed on giving out Covid and flu jabs, as well as other essential support services without appointments.
The scheme also includes a range of services and offers food, refreshments and vouchers to all those who attend.
Narissa Kelland is a nurse practitioner with the Health for the Homeless team in Cornwall.
She has helped to set up the pop-ups which have taken across in various locations including Heartlands and Camborne, and attended the Truro event.
Narissa said: "The idea behind it is to make it a lot easier for people to access services under one roof. Essentially people experiencing homelessness will need to have a lot of different professionals and agencies around them but with the chaos of what comes with homelessness that can be really difficult to manage.
"We have a lot of non-attendance with those appointments - but here we want people to access it all together".
Jacob Widdison lives in a hostel in Truro. He was one of the attendees who went along to the pop-up at Shelterbox for a dental health check-up after being made homeless just before the start of the pandemic.
He used to live in a hostel in Redruth before moving to the city and described the experience as difficult.
Before attending the pop-up, he said he was "nervous" and hadn't been to one before.
Jacob said: "I didn't know what to expect really.
"I've lost a couple of teeth so I was wondering about getting some replaced.
"It went alright but it's going to take a bit of time at the minute".
Alongside health services including jabs, Smile dental advice and Healthy Cornwall check ups, other pop up stands included: Hair and beauty with the Chaos group, Positive People, Cornwall neighbourhoods for change and Healthy Cornwall.
Volunteer Cornwall also marshalled the day.
Narissa continued: "We have a couple more pop-ups which we're going to do, and then in March we're going to review and see whether or not it's something we can sustain and roll out over the next coming year.
"Hopefully doing something in the summer, more tailored to the needs over the summer rather than the winter where it's tailored towards Covid and flu vaccination.
"We're having feedback from the homeless people saying they're absolutely loving coming to the areas and having all of these services, particularly hair and beauty and dental.
"It's been really positive and the hope is we'll be able to offer more services like this".