9 Ways Baptist Care SA is boosting health and well-being in the Inner City

Sadly, when people’s lives are embroiled in chaos and crisis, it can also be incredibly difficult to access, afford and attend the very support services they need. It is a vicious cycle we have seen again and again.

In response to this, we have co-designed a range of free health and wellbeing initiatives that are offered at one easy to access location. These exciting health and well-being projects operate alongside our WestCare meals service, Emergency Relief program, Aboriginal Elders Program, Community Food Hub, case management, free legal aid, advocacy and referral services, and laundry and shower facilities.

They include[1]

• Daily visits from nurses who assist with general health care needs
• Weekly visits from drug and alcohol clinicians
• Weekly visits from mental health clinicians
• A weekly physiotherapy clinic
• Fortnightly GP visits
• Pop up dental clinic (4 x per year)
• A quarterly pet care clinic and dog wash
• Pop up hairdresser
• Arts program

Our onsite gym, which was impacted by COVID-19, will re-open soon and our pastoral care program is gaining momentum.

These projects form an initial step towards our vision to build a Health and Wellbeing Centre on site which will offer a range of allied health services.

[1] These programs are made possible with the assistance of our valued partners; Drug and Alcohol Services SA (DASSA), Eastern Mental Health Team from the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), UniSA, Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS), Nunkuwarrin Yunti, Australian Dental Foundation, Safe Pets, Safe Families, Fly Bird Fly Studio and Flinders University.