Oak Child and Youth Advocacy Centre has been looking to further enhance our service to children who have experienced abuse and violence by working towards a medical partnership with local physicians.

The goal of this project is for Oak Centre clients who disclose sexual abuse to receive medical care through a health check exam. Having a medical professional provide reassurance of a child’s health and wellness goes a long way to preventing long-term emotional impacts of the trauma they have endured.

We are fortunate to have a volunteer project lead, Randy, who has assisted us to acquire Shared Care funding through Doctors of BC so that we can contract physicians to assist us to create medical service pathways for our clients. We are working closely with the Shuswap/North Okanagan Division of Family Practice to find a service model that will work best for our clients and community.

We thank Randy, Shared Care, the Division and the physicians who came forward to work with us on this project. We hope to have great news about new service pathways for our child and youth clients in the New Year.