News from Nova Scotia Health
Did you know? The Eastern Shore Musquodoboit Community Health Board (ESMCHB) works on health promotion initiatives based on input from the community. Every five years, we engage with the community to discuss what makes a community healthy. In 2016, the last time we did a full engagement, we were told that mental health, access to health information and services, wellness & prevention, and rural inequities were the top issues impacting the health of our communities.
Starting in the fall, the Community Health Board will be going back out into the community seeking input to determine the top issues impacting the health of the community currently. Watch for opportunities to participate in focus groups, surveys, conversations (in-person and virtually), or reach out and invite us to meet with your group/community to tell us your thoughts. We'd love to hear from you.
Partnering in Community:
The ESMCHB has been working with community partners and Nova Scotia Health (NSH) on the 2016 identified priorities. Highlights include:
Mental Wellness:
As our top priority, we have initiated and supported a variety of projects including the Mental Wellness Outreach project, Mental Health Helping Tree, Mental Wellness Day Showcase, "The 8 Domains of Wellness" workshops, Naloxone training program, Mental Wellness brochure, Peer Support training, Giving Soup project, and the Tea for Two initiative. We're also advocating for a community-based model for mental health supports within the community through the Eastern Shore Musquodoboit Well-Being HUB.
Access to Health Information:
We have worked hard to distribute information about the Community Health Board and local health services through a variety of sources. We collaborate with NSH to create this monthly article in the Eastern Shore Cooperator, distributed a "Healthcare glossary," helped establish the Well-being HUB to coordinate existing programs and provide critical navigation services, and supported NSH to host and promote conversations in the community.
Access to Services:
We recognize that we need more access to services and have supported Musgo Rider with Wellness Funding to offer subsidized trips for medical appointments. We've also partnered with NSH, Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), and other community groups to organize and promote a local Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) work and learn course to increase the number of CCAs available to work in the area. Additionally, we've supported three applications to the Office of Healthcare Professional Recruitment's Community fund to build community capacity to recruit, retain, and celebrate healthcare professionals in our community for the future.
Wellness & Promotion:
ESMCHB has partnered on an array of initiatives to improve physical activity, food access, community food security, and social connections. We've supported the development of the Well-Being HUB, which is helping people access wellness programming. Another way we have supported wellness is through advocacy for healthy public policy, including a National Universal School Food program, exploration of a Basic Income program, and alcohol warning labels on all alcohol bottles to inform the public of the carcinogen content and its link to cancer.
Rural Inequities:
We all know that our region struggles to have a voice due to our small population and large geography. ESMCHB has shared our rural voice on Develop Nova Scotia's Internet Initiative, the reclassification of Sheet Harbour and Middle Musquodoboit as rural communities under the Federal student loan forgiveness for healthcare students, the expansion of the Mobile Food Market's produce bag programs to serve our rural communities, the development of the Well-Being HUB model, and supporting local roundtables and coalitions to share their collective voice on important issues.
Our People:
The Eastern Shore Musquodoboit Community Health board is made up of volunteers from the community who are passionate about their community. Meet our board members: Amanda Julien (co-chair), Rhonda Frank (co-chair), Niko Wilson-Henkelmann, Kayla Cavanaugh, Margaret Merlin-Wilson, Wendy Cross, Amanda Lima, Foster MacKenzie, Tracy Cowan, Lynn Howard, Magalie Gringas, Wendy Robinson, Bev Cadham, and Ellen Crumley. We are also fortunate to have Roberta Duchesne as an NSH representative observer on the board.
To learn more about our work and our upcoming engagement, follow us on Facebook (Facebook/ESMCHB) or visit www.communityhealthboards.ns.ca
Your Health, Your Community is a contributed column from Nova Scotia Health. If you have comments or questions, we want to hear from you at [email protected].
