Co-creating the Diabetes Mobile Clinic: A Community-Grounded Model for Equitable Diabetes Care in Calgary

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Equity
• Community-Based Interventions

Background:

• Structural vulnerability creates significant barriers to diabetes specialty care, leading to worse health outcomes.
• Traditional diabetes care models are inadequate for vulnerable populations, necessitating flexible, community-centered approaches.
• This paper details the development of a Diabetes Mobile Clinic designed for equitable care delivery in underserved areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the co-creation process of a Diabetes Mobile Clinic.
• To highlight key lessons learned from developing a community-grounded model for diabetes care.
• To demonstrate an innovative approach to improving diabetes care access for structurally vulnerable individuals.

Main Methods:

• Co-creation involving individuals with lived experience, clinic leadership, and community organizations.
• Community engagement to build trust and ensure relevance in service design.
• Partnerships across academic, community, and health system sectors for sustainability and scalability.

Main Results:

• Community engagement fostered trust and relevance by centering lived experiences.
• Partnerships enhanced sustainability and scalability through shared leadership and expertise.
• Embedding lived experience promoted cultural safety and accountability to community priorities.
• Flexible service delivery overcame access barriers by bringing comprehensive care into community settings.

Conclusions:

• Co-creation of the Diabetes Mobile Clinic shows early promise for delivering equitable diabetes care to vulnerable populations in Calgary.
• Ongoing evaluation is crucial to generate evidence supporting sustained funding and long-term operation of the mobile clinic model.