Kickstand youth hub opens primary care clinic in West Edmonton Mall

PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR.
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    With the cut of a ribbon… a new primary care clinic opens its doors in West Edmonton Mall. Elliott Knopp with more on the new addition to Kickstand’s one-stop shop for youth in need of mental and physical health support.

    With the cut of a ribbon, a new primary care clinic opens its doors in West Edmonton Mall.

    Kickstand celebrated the grand opening of two new clinic exam rooms on Wednesday.

    This one-stop shop for people between 11 and 25 years old opened in January this year, offering free walk-in mental health, counselling, and guidance programs in collaboration with the YMCA.

    “All the supports are under one roof, rather than what’s happened for a number of years now, where supports are, again through no fault of anybody’s, kind of spread across quite a large geographical area in edmonton,” said Michael Peters, the general manager of YMCA of Northern Alberta.

    Because of this brand-new addition, kids and young adults can see a nurse practitioner right here.

    Going for a health checkup probably isn’t one of the more common reasons you’d go to the mall, but the team here tells me this location is a big step toward improving healthcare accessibility.

    “Access to services for young people is very confusing and it’s very siloed, so by having practitioners come together, we kind of take responsibility for navigating health,” said Katherine Hay, the executive director of Kickstand.

    Nurse practitioners can help diagnose and treat some conditions without the help of a doctor.

    Executive director Marti Pickett told CityNews this will help reduce the stress of those trying to get the help they need easily and discreetly.

    Because you can simply walk in and tell friends or family, you’re just going to the mall.

    “Even sometimes something as simple as booking an appointment can be stressful for youth or those that have some mental health issues. That becomes a real barrier,” said Pickett.

    The clinic will start operating just two days each week until Kickstart gets a better idea of what demand looks like.

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