07 Oct A new kind of memory clinic is quietly reshaping dementia care
In a seniors’ housing building in Toronto, a health-care team gathers in a shared space while, upstairs, a clinician knocks on an apartment door.
The patient won’t be coming to a clinic that day. The clinic has come to them.
The program, known as a Multidisciplinary Interprofessional Team (MINT) Memory Clinic, is well established in family health teams across Canada. But in Toronto, a team at Sunnybrook has adapted it in a novel way: embedded directly inside seniors’ housing buildings and delivered in tenants’ apartments.
The shift reflects a growing recognition that for many older adults, particularly those with lower incomes and complex needs, traditional models of care may not be as effective.
Through an investment by The Slaight Family Foundation, the program currently supports about 40 tenants in four Toronto Seniors Housing buildings, with plans to expand to three additional sites this fall.