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HEALTH & WELLBEING

Galway Simon Health & Well-being Team

Homelessness can have a profound impact on people’s health. For our clients who have very poor health and have difficulty engaging with services, we have a dedicated Health & Well-being Team that helps them to improve their overall health and well-being so that they can make a lasting progression out of homelessness.

Our Health & Well-being Team provides all of our clients with specialist support in areas including physical and mental health, addiction recovery, life skills and access to training, education and employment. This includes:

• General Nursing Supports with attendant Dental and Chiropody Treatment
• Mental Health Supports
• Drug and Alcohol Counselling
• Benzodiazepine Detox Programme
• Occupational Therapy

health and well-being

Our Health and Well-being Services

Benzodiazepine Community Detox Programme

Galway Simon Community Detox Service is a pilot project which has been set up to help support people who wish to detoxify from benzodiazepines and who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness.

Though benzodiazepines can be beneficial when used appropriately, long term use can lead to increased tolerance and dependence. Our Community Detoxification Service is specifically interested in engaging with individuals who have developed such a dependency and are interested in seeking to have this dependency addressed.

Using a psychosocial model of service delivery, the service will support clients to reduce or stop their use of benzodiazepines. The central focus of the service is to adhere to a client centred approach, working in partnership with the client towards mutually identified treatment goals.

Clients will be assigned a key worker who will meet with them on a weekly basis to provide psychosocial support, including:

  1. Information and preparation for the benzodiazepine detoxification.
  2. Together with their GP, support them throughout the detoxification process.
  3. Provide ongoing aftercare support.

How to make a referral
Contact a member of the Detox team to make a referral:

By Email:
[email protected]

By Phone:
Gerry – 085 871 2236

Tanya – 085 872 0731

Kevin – 085 805 4958

 

 

Medical Clinic for Homeless in Galway

Teach Corrib Medical Clinic targets homeless patients who do not have access to their own GP. The clinic is staffed by both a doctor and nurse and aims to treat the patient holistically addressing everything from acute medical complaints to advice regarding accommodation to medical card applications. This is a walk in service allowing homeless people to access treatment without appointment.

Services offered
The clinics provide general medical treatment as well as specialised services that are particularly relevant to marginalised patients including:

  • Blood borne virus screening
  • Naloxone prescribing
  • Medical card application assistance
  • Wound care
  • STI screening
  • Dental referral
  • Podiatry referral
  • Minor surgery
  • Flu vaccination
  • Hepatitis vaccination
  • Contraception

Further information/referral
We are happy to see patients without appointment at our Thursday medical clinics. If you require further information or are concerned about the medical needs of a homeless patient, please contact Dr. Kieran Coleman at [email protected] or Nurse Regina Boyle at [email protected]

Locations and times:
Thursday Morning (Emergency Accommodation Clinic)
Abbey House,
113 Upper Newcastle Road,
Galway

Thursday afternoon (Walk in clinic)
Teach Corrib Medical Clinic,
Cope Teach Corrib Day Centre,
Seamus Quirke Road,
Galway

Are you facing or experiencing homelessness?
We are here to help.

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our team today