COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLBEING WEEK 2023
There are many things to really love about Autumn:
Pumpkin spice, the changing colours of the leaves, and Community Health and Wellbeing Week.
The theme this year is “Community Health is Essential.”
Where do we turn (or want to be able to): In a crisis, during a pandemic, when we get sick, when we need help for our families, children, or neighbours, when we celebrate, when we want to feel strong: Close to home. Our communities. And the organizations that serve us there.
Community health is essential!
Our core activities for 2023 include:
– Access to Food Sustainability: providing health groceries, a budget conscious cook book and the opportunity for hands-in cooking with peers.
– Advocacy for Civic Participation: supporting clients to understand their civic responsibility, their right to protest and how to contact levels of government.
– Action toward Community Inclusion: demonstrating how each of us plays a role in the health and vitality of our community.
SCHEDULE
Tuesday October 17 2023
1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Argyle Clinic
Wednesday October 18 2023
9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Huron Clinic
Wednesday October 18 2022
1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
East Clinic
Thursday October 19 2023
1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Health Outreach Clinic
- CHWW 2023
- ACTION
- ACCESS
- ADVOCACY
From the Alliance for Healthier Communities
- Community health is proven.
Proven to work for people and communities at comprehensive primary care, disease prevention and health and wellbeing. Proven at improving breast cancer screening rates, rates of effective diabetes care, and effective at helping people maintain complex chronic conditions while living in their communities. Proven to be efficient and effective at helping complex clients manage mental health and substance issues through a broad spectrum of care including harm reduction and safer supply. Proven to work. Proven to be accountable to the communities it serves. Proven to address the inequities people face in accessing safe, accessible, and culturally appropriate care. Proven to meet community needs. Proven to be there in a crisis.
- Community health helps people.
Helps people access primary health care where they live. Helps people navigate the health system. Helps people understand their health. Helps people meet unmet needs: housing, food, transportation, medications, oral health care … [add items] and much more. Helps people take control of their health. Helps people access care in their own language. Helps people who face barriers, like racism and poverty, when accessing health care. Helps people where they’re at, with outreach, mobile units and satellite locations. Helps people by listening to people. Helps people find a place to belong. Helps people design a better health system that works for them.
- Community health is essential.
Essential for health equity. Essential for an effective health system. Essential to a connected health care system. Essential to supporting effective access to primary health care. Essential to belonging. Essential in cities. Essential in rural areas. Essential in the North. Community health is critical to the health and well-being of people and communities.
- Community health is under-resourced.
Organizations and teams that play essential roles in our communities and our lives require support and resources to do the work they do. Even if we don’t call on their services every day, or ever, we need to know they’re there, able to help keep our communities healthy, especially in a crisis. To keep community health organizations strong, we call for them to be supported by all levels of government. Community health is under-resourced and is essential to healthy communities, so we need to be confident it can meet our needs now, and in the future.