by Emilie Hayes, SWCHC, and Émilie Sartoretto, CCHC
Community engagement is critical to the success of community health centres (CHCs.) We believe that together we can achieve better health where people live, work, learn and play.
As community health centres, we seek to engage people around issues that impact their own health and the health of their communities. We see community engagement as an important process where people play an active role for positive change. Not only does it help us be more effective and responsive organizations, it also provides opportunities for clients, individuals and communities in the areas we serve. Everyone wins when we collaborate.
With an inclusive and grassroots approach, community engagement is an ongoing process within CHCs. Because clients and community members are the experts on their own community and health needs, we trust them to determine their own priorities.
Community engagement is built into our model of care in many ways. For example, we take great pride in our community-governed approach. CHCs’ elected boards of directors are made up of community members from all walks of life.
We have a great deal to gain as organizations by engaging with our communities. We help strengthen the ways people come together and take action to promote health by providing opportunities for community members to identify health needs, set priorities, identify solutions, and evaluate progress. We pay special attention to community members and neighbourhoods that are marginalized and therefore experience greater inequities in their health.
We take the community’s ideas seriously. Dundonald Park is a great example of the community and our centres working together to build a healthy and vibrant environment. Following suggestions, and inspired by ongoing initiatives like gardening led by the Friends of Dundonald Park and movie showings by Centretown Movies, we began offering activities for young children and reached out to street-involved adults in the park. A year later, the Making a Place for People initiative is going full force. We’re all working together to establish Dundonald Park as a community hub to meet our collective mission of achieving healthy, caring, inclusive communities where everyone matters.
Many exciting programs and initiatives are grassroots and continue to be community driven. For example, the Centretown CHC is excited to work with the Senior Pride Network that came to be through the hard work and dedication of people like Cathy Collett, Barry Deeprose and Marie Robertson, who have been fighting for gay rights since the 1970s. They have identified important needs for the aging GLBTTQ community, given that there are currently no residential homes or care facilities that cater to these communities. Centretown CHC supports them with initiatives like providing cultural competency training and professional development for staff and volunteers.
Over the last three years, SWCHC has been actively engaged with the Community Development Framework (CDF) process. Rochester Heights was identified as the first neighbourhood for this process in the SWCHC catchment area. It involved a resident-driven needs assessment and action planning process which resulted in a community action plan. The replacement of their play structure was identified as the top priority and community members mobilized to raise money. It culminated in a community building day and two new play structures in the community.
Given that community engagement is key to what we do, we make sure our staff has the tools and expertise needed. For example, staff and community members from the Somerset West CHC and Centretown CHC, along with all other community health and resource centres in Ottawa, recently participated in community facilitation training. In addition to bringing their new facilitation skills to groups in the community, participants also developed a neighbourhood capacity building guide, “Creating the Change We Want,” that will be available soon.
As we get closer to our centres’ annual general meetings in June, community engagement is especially top of mind. We encourage you to get involved with your local community health centre. From sharing an idea for a new program to joining our Board, we welcome everyone to participate however they can.
The Centretown CHC’s AGM is on June 21. Looking to get involved? Give us a call, come by our centre or visit www.centretownchc.org.
The Somerset West CHC’s AGM is on June 20. This year’s AGM marks the 40th anniversary of SWCHC and we will be hosting a street party on Eccles Street after the AGM. For more information, come by the centre or visit www.swchc.on.ca.
This column is a collaboration between the Centretown and Somerset West Community Health Centres.They provide a full range of health and social services to individuals and families. Through leadership and support, they foster the active participation of individuals and groups in a common effort to build healthier communities.