Some McGill nursing students are teaming up with a local homeless shelter to help provide care for its clientele.
"It was really a need (so) that Accueil Bonneau reached to us," said teacher Françoise Filion.
The Accueil Bonneau shelter opened up a clinic last September serving homeless men who tend to avoid hospitals and regular clinics. And it's been busy ever since: the number of visits going from two or three a week to a dozen in one day.
Student nurses are helping with prevention such as the latest program focusing on foot care, a big problem during the cold winter months.
"A lot of them said, can you bring those resources here because I don't like going to the hospital because when I go there, they don't treat me so well," said third year student Sandra Cowie.
Cowie said it's also creating a link of trust.
"We want to create this nice environment for them and that someday they'll feel more comfortable going (to regular clinics)," said Cowie.
For the students, contact with the homeless can help clear up misconceptions.
"Like they have addictions so they're going to be violent. All the men I've met, they're just so sweet and so nice," said Cowie.
"None of them are there because they want to be and that's what's important that we need to remember, that we need to treat them as human beings just like we would anyone else and that their addictions don't define them."