Saskatchewan has launched a small fleet of mobile wellness buses to improve access to primary health care, mental health and addiction services in the province.

The first bus began operating in Regina on Feb. 12. Another followed in Prince Albert on March 21. Saskatoon’s bus was unveiled publicly on April 9. All three are former coach buses that have been retrofitted to provide health care to communities facing barriers to access.

“Mobile health units are proven to improve outcomes for people facing barriers to healthcare,” Kayla DeMong, the executive director of addiction treatment centre Prairie Harm Reduction, told Canadian Affairs in an email.

“We fully support this innovative approach and are excited to work alongside the health bus teams to ensure the people we support receive the care they need, when and where they need it.”

Wellness buses

Like all provinces, Saskatchewan has been grappling with the opioid crisis.

In 2023, an estimated 457 individuals died from overdoses in the province. In 2024, that number fell to 346. But the province continues to struggle with fatal and non-fatal overdoses.

In late February, Saskatoon firefighters responded to more than 25 overdoses in a single 24-hour period. Just over a week later, they responded to 37 overdoses within another 24-hour window.

Saskatchewan’s wellness buses are part of the province’s plan to address these problems. In April 2025, the province announced $2.4 million to purchase and retrofit three coach buses, plus $1.5 million in annual operating funds.

The buses operate on fixed schedules at designated locations around each city. Each bus is staffed with a nurse practitioner, nurse and assessor coordinator who offer services such as overdose reversal kits, addiction medicine and mental health referrals.

“By bringing services directly to where people are, the health buses foster safer, more welcoming spaces and help build trusting relationships between community members and care providers,” said DeMong, executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction.

Saskatoon-based Prairie Harm Reduction is one of the local organizations that partners with the buses to provide additional support services. Prairie Harm Reduction provides a range of family, youth and community supports, and also houses the province’s only fixed supervised consumption site.

The mobile model

Saskatchewan is not the only province using wellness buses. Across Canada, mobile health models are increasingly being used to expand access to care in rural and underserved communities.

In Kingston, Ont., the Street Health Centre operates a retrofitted RV called PORCH (Portable Outreach Care Hub) that serves individuals struggling with homelessness and addiction.

“Our outreach services are extremely popular with our clients and community partners,” Donna Glasspoole, manager at Street Health Centre, said in an emailed statement.

“PORCH hits the road two to three days/week and offers a variety of services, which are dependent on the health care providers and community partners aboard.”

Street Health Centre also has a shuttle service that picks up clients in shelters and brings them to medical clinics or addiction medicine clinics.

The PORCH vehicles are not supported by provincial funding, but instead rely on support from the United Way and other grants. Glasspoole says the centre’s permanent location — which does receive government funding — is more cost-effective to operate.

“The vehicles are expensive to operate and our RV is not great in winter months and requires indoor parking,” she said.

Politically palatable

Many mobile health models currently do not provide controversial services such as supervised drug consumption.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority told Canadian Affairs the province’s new wellness buses will not offer supervised consumption services or safer supply, where drug users are given prescribed opioids as an alternative to toxic street drugs.

“There are no plans to provide supervised consumption services from the wellness buses,” Saskatchewan Health Authority spokesperson Courtney Markewich told Canadian Affairs in a phone call.

This limited scope may make mobile services more politically palatable in provinces that have resisted harm reduction measures.

In Ontario, some harm reduction programs have shifted to mobile models following Premier Doug Ford’s decision to suspend supervised consumption services located within 200 metres of schools and daycares.

In April, Toronto Public Health ended operations at its Victoria Street fixed consumption site, replacing it with street outreach and mobile vans.

The Ontario government’s decision to close the sites is part of a broader pivot away from harm reduction. The province is investing $378 million to transition suspended sites into 19 new “HART Hubs” that offer primary care, mental health, addictions treatment and other supports.

Glasspoole says that what matters most is not whether services are provided at fixed or mobile locations, but how care is delivered.

Models that “reduce barriers to care, [are] non-judgemental, and [are staffed by] trauma-informed providers” are what lead more people toward treatment and recovery, she said in her email.

In Saskatchewan, DeMong hopes the province’s new wellness buses help address persistent service gaps and build trust with underserved communities.

“This initiative is a vital step toward filling long-standing gaps in the continuum of care by providing low-barrier, community-based access to health-care services,” she said.

This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism exploring addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.