Lil’wat is doing their best to comply with the evolving messages provided by the BC Provincial Health Officer. This has meant adapting Lil’wat Health & Healing Services to continue providing quality care to our members remotely. Lil’wat Health & Healing staff conduct regular wellness checks with all their clients, and any issues or concerns are collected and brought to the team to problem solve.

The team is only entering client’s homes to do wound care. All other services are done by telephone, and staff are offering to assist with prescription pick-up and food drop-off to some of the most vulnerable households. In addition, Lil’wat has created a registry system to allow the whole community to sign up for check-ins and to provide information on their household size, health concerns, medications, etc. This allows the health team to organize prescription pick-up, update their EMR, and ensure the community list of vulnerable population is complete.

Primary clinical care is best delivered in-person, face-to-face. However, in a pandemic such as COVID-19, maintaining the safety of workers and community members requires a significant shift in delivery of these essential services.

Community members are still receiving essential services from their nursing, home and community care, and mental wellness programs. In addition, many households are now receiving delivery of prescriptions and other necessary items to their homes, which improves everyone’s safety by helping community members stay home. Jessica is in her first year as Health Director at Lil’wat. Now that the registry system is set up, it will be much less work to adapt to a future situation. It would also be helpful if there was an online community registry that could be accessed as this would significantly streamline the process of getting members signed up.