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Fraser Valley homelessness care teams need a little support from community

Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation issues appeal for IHART teams
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The Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation has issued an appeal on behalf of Fraser Health’s Integrated Homelessness Action Response Teams. (Submitted photo)

The helpers in the Fraser Valley need a little help themselves.

The Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation has issued an appeal on behalf of Fraser Health’s Integrated Homelessness Action Response Teams (IHART).

The teams need some more essential items to give to people who are sheltered, unsheltered, and living in encampments and select supportive housing environments.

IHART teams are comprised of multidisciplinary care providers who use a trauma-informed and recovery-oriented approach to make connections and bring services directly to people. The teams’ service objectives include stabilizing and treating chronic health conditions people may experience, supporting people’s transitions to new shelter or housing, reducing the risk of overdose and other serious and life-threatening incidents, and addressing people’s health care concerns directly in their communities to prevent unnecessary visits to emergency departments.

Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation is looking for donations of client care items such as toiletries, socks, underwear, sweaters, toques, gloves, shoes, tarps, sleeping bags, backpacks, ponchos, feminine care products, and pet care items. The foundation is also is looking for treats at special holidays such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. Also, seasonal items such as sunscreen, bug spray, water, thermoses or Tupperware, and plastic cutlery, as well as napkins, paper bags for treats, coffee cups and stir sticks.

In addition, the foundation wants nutrition items such as any kind of soft granola bars, fruit and cereal bars, or that kind of quick snack, peanut butter, jam, ketchup, mustard, drinks such as sports drinks and juice boxes, and gift cards to grocery stores for perishable items.

To support the IHART staff, the foundation needs seasonal outreach gear and identifiers such as shirts that say FH Outreach.

“Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation is committed to supporting the health and well-being of our community members, including those who are experiencing homelessness,” said Liz Harris, executive director of Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation. “We are proud to support the important work of IHART in providing essential care to those in need.”

The foundation is asking the public to help support this initiative by dropping off donations of any of these items to any of the foundation offices located at the Abbotsford, Chilliwack or Mission hospitals; a complete list of need items can be found at fvhcf.ca/regionalprojects.

IHART teams provide services across the Fraser Health region and work with local partners to ensure collaboration and integration of services in the community. Eligibility for IHART services is currently limited to Emergency Response Centres and Isolation Centres, but teams are growing and increasing capacity to expand services to local shelters and encampments.

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