All activities will be held at the London InterCommunity Health Centre Huron location, 1355 Huron Street (Huron/Highbury)

Program includes:

Mindful Movement: Mondays 5-6pm
Drop-In (No registration required)
Enjoy health and relaxation benefits of gentle physical activities such as Yoga, Tai-Chi, Nia, Qi Gong

Building Bridges Social and Support Group: Alternating Mondays 6:30-8pm
Pre-registration is required for Building Bridges
Connect with other women in your community and share your thoughts and ideas about things that are important to you.

Creative Expression: Alternative Thursdays 1:30-3pm  
Drop-In (No registration required)
Enjoy different creative art activities such as crafts, painting, creating a comunity mural.

Conversations Across Culture: Alternating Thursdays 1:30-3pm  
Drop-In (No registration required)
Read short stories, play games, watch videso and practice your English through conversations about life in Canada and Canadian culture while meeting other women in your community.

For more information, please  click on the link below or contact Tina at 519-659-1271 ext. 406.

 Women Creating Community Spring/Summer 2013.

A May 27, 2013 public input session is the community’s final chance to influence the Thames Valley Public School Board Trustees’ vote regarding the future of Lorne Ave Public School.

London InterCommunity Health Centre strongly believes that the school’s location, its programs, and its role in the lives of so many community members contribute to a healthier community. Lorne Ave is the only English language public elementary school in the downtown core, and a vital community hub for programs extending beyond the Old East Village. We urge the Board to consider options for keeping the school open, in order to:

• support the health of students by providing a school they can walk to safely;
• encourage community programming that strengthens the neighbourhood ;
• consider the school’s necessity in current and future development in the area.

 We ask you to attend this crucial public input session, as well as the final June 11 trustee vote.

Our goal is to help fill the School Board Gallery on these evenings to demonstrate the sizable impact of the Trustees’ decision, and to help them make the best decision for the health of the community we serve.

•  Special TVDSB Meeting*, public input session: Monday, 27 May 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
• TVDSB Meeting, trustee vote and decision: Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 7 p.m. 

Both meetings will be held at the TVDSB offices on Dundas at Highbury.

*Note: members of the public interested in providing formal input at the May 27 session must submit an application to Bonnie Williams no later than 14 May, 2013 at 5 p.m.

Forward by Sarah Patterson, Seniors Worker, London InterCommunity Health Centre:

The Immigrant Seniors Home Visiting Program is a program for seniors who find it  difficult to leave the house and who may feel alone. Volunteers are partnered with a senior from the community. The partnership is based on shared language, hobbies  and activities. Volunteers provide companionship weekly and can also support seniors to take the bus, go to a grocery store, do crafts or connect with other services in the community.

In honour of Volunteer Appreciation Week this is a guest post from one of our very committed and passionate volunteers. Jose has been a volunteer with the Immigrant Seniors Home Visiting Program for more than 3 years and has been matched with two vulnerable and isolated immigrant seniors in the community. Jose prepared this as a speech and shared it at our Volunteer Appreciation ceremony on April  24. Thank-you to Jose and all of our other volunteers who continue to support the work , mission and values of the London InterCommunity Health Centre!

Sarah and Jose, at the 2013 Volunteer Appreciation Event at Museum London.

Good afternoon,

It is a pleasure to share my volunteer experience with all of you. 4 years ago my family and I came to Canada as permanent residents. A Doctor in El Salvador, the country I came from, I was aware of the difficulties and challenges face by newcomers, and since I was not able to start to work in my field, volunteering was an attractive option to keep myself in “the field”. I came to the London InterCommunity Health Centre looking for an opportunity to volunteer and help as much as I can to a population sector that for so different reasons are not reached by the “conventional” health care system.

So far, it’s been an interesting and rewarding experience. In the “Senior’s Home Visiting Program,” my job is to give companionship and help to immigrant seniors in the London Area. To be honest with you, it is not a simple task. They have grown and lived in different cultures, do things their way always; and facing a 180 degrees change in their lifestyle, from being fully independent to not being able to communicate is sometimes traumatic. It is our mission to help in the transition of this culture shock. But most of all, we give them our time, a moment to share all their impressions and also opinions about life under their scope and, at the same time, both grow as people.

Through this program I have found an opportunity to give what I know in my field. The volunteer team, with all our backgrounds, have a huge potential and are able to make an impact in people’s lives. As a Doctor, I try to understand the adaptive process my seniors are having and the different psychological challenges they face, and offer help within my boundaries and capacities. Identified factors in their living space that can be potentially threatening given their specific condition, or identified risk behaviors just by chatting, are examples of how one can change our senior’s perspective.

Volunteer is, as defined somewhere else, “the most fundamental act of citizenship and philanthropy in our society”. As my coordinator told me the very first day I applied as a volunteer, you should be sure it is the right time in your life for volunteering. Each of us volunteers, creates a relationship of care and compassion with our client (senior, man, woman, child), share experiences, hobbies, and life itself. Without knowing, we are becoming part of a social network that works toward the benefit of the ones who need the most, looking for no reward.  Most of all, we are their first real connection to a community that will help them to achieve what they are looking for.

As newcomers, we came to this country, among so many other reasons, wanting to leave a mark, a legacy. For our clients, we have delivered it.  To our families, we show with our actions that we care and bond with the community.  To all my fellow volunteers, thank you for your efforts, and thanks to our staff, as we will not be here without their conviction and passion for help.

The five day initiative will have a separate focus for each day. Kids will learn about bouncing back through the arts, music, school activities and community programs. A series of five creative, locally produced videos will be launched – one per day – on the themes of, “What is Bounce Back? “I Bounced Back,” “We Bounce Back,” “You Bounce Back,” and “Bounce Back Stronger.”

Partner agencies will be distributing to every child in the communities of Oxford, Elgin, London and Middlesex a Bounce Back bracelet that features the Kids Help Phone number and the www.mentalhealth4kids.ca website.

Follow the campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #bounceback.

Visit this page often during mental health week for links to the videos.

Starting date:

April 3, 2013

Posting date:

April 8, 2013

Type of communication:

Drug Recall

Subcategory:

Drugs

Hazard classification:

Type I and II

Source of recall:

Health Canada

Issue:

Product Safety

Audience:

General Public, Healthcare Professionals, Hospitals

Identification number:

RA-26663

• Reason
• Depth of distribution
• Affected products
• Related AWRs

Recalled Product

1. Alysena 28

Reason

Packaged product may contain two rows of placebo tablets (14 tablets) and two rows of active contraceptive tablets (14 tablets) in the blister pack. Correct packaging is one row of placebo tablets (7 tablets) and three rows of active contraceptive tablets (21 tablets) in the blister pack.

As per the product monograph, in the case of a missed dose, use a non-hormonal method of contraception as an interim measure until you speak with your physician and obtain medical advice.

Depth of distribution

Wholesalers/distributors and retailers in BC, NB, NF, NS, ON, PE, QC

Affected products

In that moment of sharing with my daughter, she lost a sense of security in the world. It is a loss that many people have experienced over and over again: after the September 11 attacks, after the Oklahoma bombing, after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newton…  These acts of violence, whether committed with bombs or planes or assault rifles, undermine our sense of safety in the world. Already the speculation has started as to whether this was the act of terrorism. I remember after the Oklahoma bombing people speculated the same way – and then there was a collective sense of shock when the bomber ended up being a white American citizen.

I am awake in the middle of the night, struggling about how to talk about this tragedy and the fears it raises. I hear the trashing of a particular religious group, labeling it as a religion prone to radicalism, ignoring radicalism in our society from so many different sources. Radicalism in any form serves to divide people from one another and raise distrust. It is not the sole purview of any one religious group. I believe it does arise – at least in part – when a person or a group does not feel heard or included in our society. That does not mean I justify it, nor do I believe that these acts of violence are justified behaviours.  I am deeply saddened by a continued lack of civil discourse about differences in our society in general. To be frank, my response is often to withdraw in the face of vitriolic debate. Sometimes the withdrawal begins even before the vitriol begins because I anticipate the toxicity.

I have been reading Meg Wheatley’s latest book entitled SO FAR FROM HOME: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World.  She talks about how we ended up in a world that nobody wants. The book feels so timely right now. There are days when the world feels consumed by greed, self-interest and oppressive power. I have not found this to be an easy read because of the place that I have been holding – and reinforced with the bombing in Boston – of much despair about what is truly possible. At the same time, I am somewhat of an optimist and even as I circle around this frustration I am also finding places of gratitude, belonging and resolve to continue to do the work to make my community and the world a better and even safer place. I believe that we have to hold gently our speculation as to who caused events such as this recent bombing so that we don’t contribute to the divide and radicalism.

I am grieving today for the father who ran the race, received a hug from his son and then a split second later, lost his son to the bomb blast while his daughter and wife were seriously injured. I am grieving for the others who lost loved ones and for those seriously injured whose lives will never be the same. But I am also holding gratitude. I am grateful for those yesterday who rushed to help. I am grateful that there were people who still trusted and opened their homes to complete strangers when those strangers could not return to their hotels. I am grateful for the voices who have struggled to not rush to assume the source of this act of violence and stir up more racial violence.  I am grateful for those who continue to work in peace and in thoughtful, action-orientated dialogue, even in the face of despair.

It is designed to enhance healthy lifestyles and increase activity. The S.T.E.P. program is also intended to promote inclusion for those at-risk of isolation due to inactivity during winter weather.

Several of the youth participants in the 2012 program developed this really cool promotional video about their experiences with STEP. Check it out!

http://youtu.be/nVAUBeY4KOw

Please help up spread the word by sharing the poster outlining the details of our Grit Uplifted creative writing contest on poverty and homelessness with your social and professional networks (all friends, family, clients, colleagues, and fellow writers!) and/or posting it in your agency/community, as this call for submissions is open to ALL residents of London.

Your support in increasing awareness of the Grit Uplifted Creative Writing Program and engaging the community in a growing dialogue on issues of poverty and homelessness is greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions, please contact Kelly McConnell, Grit Uplifted Facilitator via email at grituplifted@gmail.com.

There is a Women Empowering Women Scholarship Application 2013 that needs to be completed.  Please fill out the application and e-mail it to scholarship@lihc.on.ca

We are most happy to help you with this application or answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to contact Dharshi Lacey at dlacey@lihc.on.ca

This application needs to be completed and e-mailed by 5pm on Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

Please share this with anyone who may be interested in this scholarship opportunity.