Twenty-two-year-old Maveryn says cost of living pressures are forcing more and more young people to make tough decisions about their welfare.
"I've experienced it myself and also friends and loved ones having to ration medication, having to do the calculation of 'can I pay rent as well as my necessary medical needs this month?'"
Maveryn is one of the vulnerable young people a new Canberra outer-suburbs mobile health clinic aims to help, unveiled in an effort to expand access to health services across the territory.
Anglicare ACT's Junction Youth Health Services will operate the van, which contains facilities for a single patient funded by an ACT Health Directorate grant.
Maveryn has been using the Junction's services for the past year — they said it's hard for young people living outside of the city centre to get to Anglicare's offices in Civic.
"I've not lived in Canberra too long but the buses are a bit unreliable," they said.
"It can be a whole day to get into the city depending on where you live, which just isn't viable for a lot of young people."
The mobile clinic will target young people aged between 12 and 25, facing homelessness and isolation in Canberra's outer north and south.
Future plans to expand
Tanya Robertson is a GP and clinical adviser to Junction Health Services and will be one of two health workers who will staff the van.
Dr Robertson believes the new service comes at a time of surging demand from young Canberrans.
"We've certainly noticed a greater need for people to come and request food relief and assistance to pay for prescriptions," she said.
"And also people who can't afford to pay for the insertion, for example, of long-acting reversible contraception."
The van plans to visit Uniting Care Kippax in Holt on Tuesday and Erindale's PCYC on Wednesday, between 12:30pm and 4:30pm,
All of the services currently available at The Junction's Civic offices will extend to the new mobile clinic, including vaccinations, STI checks, cervical screenings, and prescriptions.
There are ambitions to have the van at more locations across Canberra, with a consultation period to start.
"There will be a communication period, we will start it as a small pilot – really, so we can iron out what is the best approach for us," Dr Robertson said.
"Is that a GP and a nurse? [or] is that a GP, a nurse, and a youth worker?"
Maveryn hopes the mobile clinic will help young people in the outer suburbs just as much as it has helped them.
"I think it's great what the Junction is doing here and I'm really happy to have found this service and be able to access it."
