New Community Health Outreach Vehicle Increases Access to Primary Care in Peterborough Region
Trent/Fleming School of Nursing and Peterborough Community Health Centre collaborate to provide in-community services, practical experience for nursing students
A new donor-funded Community Health Outreach vehicle coordinated between Trent University and the Peterborough Community Health Centre (PCHC), will deliver primary care services to rural and Indigenous communities in Peterborough County, while also providing experiential learning opportunities for Trent/Fleming School of Nursing students.
“The Trent/Fleming School of Nursing is dedicated to educating nurses who can adapt to changing environments and deliver care where it is needed. The Community Health Outreach vehicle embodies that vision,” said Dr. Hugo Lehmann, dean of the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing.
“By partnering with PCHC and through the generosity of our donors to Trent’s Momentous Campaign, we are advancing access to healthcare for Indigenous, rural, and underserved populations while ensuring our students gain the experience, they need to become leaders in equitable healthcare.”
Operating two days per week, the vehicle will serve the communities of Havelock, Ennismore, and Hiawatha First Nation as a first-year pilot. Staffed by a nurse practitioner and eight second-year Trent/Fleming Nursing students per academic term, the vehicle will provide drop-in services for acute and chronic conditions and offer well-child visits, harm reduction supplies and safer sex supplies and education.
The project launches at a critical time, as Ontario faces an ongoing shortage of family doctors and primary care providers, an issue felt acutely in rural regions.
“The demand for health care in Peterborough is greater than ever. Our mission is to meet people where they are, addressing not just medical needs but the broader social factors that impact health. The Community Health Outreach vehicle is exactly the kind of low-barrier, community-based care our centre is committed to providing,” said Ashley Safar, executive director, PCHC. “By partnering with Trent, we’re able to expand access to primary care and ensure more people receive the timely, equitable care they deserve.”
“Students gain so much by serving directly in communities and by being immersed in the realities of frontline health care,” explained Erinne Stevens, nurse practitioner in the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing who will be leading the unit. “The Community Health Outreach vehicle will allow students to build clinical expertise while also learning what it means to provide care that is accessible, responsive, and rooted in community.”
Following a successful first-year pilot, Trent and PCHC hope to increase future funding to expand the range of services, increase the number of communities reached, and involve students from additional disciplines such as social work.
For schedules and locations of the Community Health Outreach vehicle, visit ptbochc.ca. To support this initiative, or other priorities of the Trent’s Momentous Campaign, visit trentu.ca/momentous.
About the Momentous Campaign
The $100-million Momentous Campaign is the boldest fundraising initiative in Trent University’s history—an ambitious call to turn possibility into something momentous. Launched in March 2023, the Campaign supports Trent’s vision for the future: where students are empowered to lead with purpose, research drives real-world change, and physical spaces inspire connection, learning, and innovation. Through the Campaign, the University is fundraising for areas such as Through the Campaign, the University is fundraising for areas such as the advance reconciliation and indigenous knowledge, cultivating solutions for a changing planet and the momentum behind student success.
About Trent University
One of Canada's top universities, Trent University was founded on the ideal of interactive learning that's personal, purposeful and transformative. Consistently recognized nationally for leadership in teaching, research and student satisfaction, Trent attracts excellent students from across the country and around the world. Here, undergraduate and graduate students connect and collaborate with faculty, staff and their peers through diverse communities that span residential colleges, classrooms, disciplines, hands-on research, co-curricular and community-based activities. Across all disciplines, Trent brings critical, integrative thinking to life every day. Today, Trent's unique approach to personal development through supportive, collaborative community engagement is in more demand than ever. Students lead the way by co-creating experiences rooted in dialogue, diverse perspectives and collaboration. In a learning environment that builds life-long passion for inclusion, leadership and social change, Trent's students, alumni, faculty and staff are engaged global citizens who are catalysts in developing sustainable solutions to complex issues. Trent's Peterborough campus boasts award-winning architecture in a breathtaking natural setting on the banks of the Otonabee River, just 90 minutes from downtown Toronto, while Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area, delivers a distinct mix of programming in the east GTA.