Talking about health equity across silos in PEI
On April 9th, it was our great pleasure to spend an energetic, conversation-filled day with over 60 islanders—from public health, national organizations, and community groups. We gathered to talk about the many ways public health and community organizations work to reduce the gap between the most and least healthy. The NCCDH co-sponsored this event, Sharing our passion for health equity: Building a common understanding, with two partners: The Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities (ASI) and the PEI-NB Branch of the Canadian Public Health Association. Patsy Beattie-Huggan, Coordinator of the ASI, has been an active voice for health equity since the 1970s and has helped create and promote the Circle of Health planning tool, which has been translated into five languages. Kathleen Brennan, president of the PEI-NB Branch of the Canadian Public Health Association, helped us make connections throughout the PEI community.
Participants represented organizations as broad-ranging as Health PEI and the Department of Health & Wellness, the Cooper Institute, the Montague Public Library, the Town of Stratford, PEI Status of Women, PEI Healthy Eating, Mi’kmaq Confederacy, and the University of PEI. In the warm-up exercise, people talked about the values of social justice and fairness that we all bring to this work.
Hannah Moffatt and Karen Fish led discussions about the different words we use to describe the work we do to improve everyone’s access to conditions that support health. We shared resources and links to work we have been doing in the areas of intersectoral action, community engagement, competencies and organizational standards, and purposeful reporting. Connie Clement, NCCDH’s Scientific Director, talked about the important role of leaders as catalysts for change.
The afternoon showcase was an opportunity for participants to share their projects, successes and learnings. Michele Vloet-Miller and Lauretta Taylor from the Public Health Nursing Newcomer Immunization /Health Clinic talked about the multiple purposes that the clinic serves; Marie Burge described the Cooper Institute’s goal to eliminate poverty in the province through a number of initiatives; David Daughton presented publications that the Community
Legal Information Association created to help vulnerable and marginalized populations navigate difficult situations that often have legal implications; and Robert Hughes from the Town of Stratford related his community’s comprehensive sustainability planning to the well-being of the town’s residents.
The event gave people from diverse professional backgrounds an opportunity to talk about what they are doing to improve health in PEI. There was a buzz in the room. We hope the passion and energy from April 9th nourishes existing and new projects, and healthy public policies on PEI.
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The Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities created a report summarizing the event. To create this report, they used a social media tool called "storify".