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What is health equity? What is the work that enables and promotes it? Why is this work so vital? During Community Health and Wellbeing Week 2017, AOHC members are demonstrating the ways that they put Health Equity at the Centre. As part of those efforts, we're going to bring you a stellar lineup of Health Equity Heroes all of this week (and beyond). Get to know the heroes among you, and the ones in neighbouring communities, and let's all celebrate and support this important work that helps everyone achieve their best possible health and wellbeing. Follow this space to read about more heroes, and check out the hashtags #CHWW2017 and #HealthEquityHeroes on social media to learn about even more.

What’s your name, how long have you worked at the centre, and what role(s) do you fill there?My name is Geraldine Toms, and I’ve worked at the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres since 2012. I am a Nurse Practitioner.

What does health equity mean to you, and how do make a health equity approach part of your work?I search for ways to provide full access to as many people that I can. I offer primary care services for adult patients in our CHC and try to eliminate health disparities by ensuring that my clients are connected with the expertise of the collaborative team at our centre. There are instances where I’ve supported people by calling their ODSP worker to ensure they have a special diet allowance, coverage of transportation costs and support with accessing psychological services. In addition to primary care for my roster of clients, I deliver episodic care for people at Westover Treatment Addiction Treatment Centre on a weekly basis as well as for migrant workers at Truly Green Greenhouse on a monthly basis.

Why is taking a health equity approach so important to your work?Health care to me includes wellness promotion as well as sickness care. There was an international student who was newly arrived to Canada. He and his wife had suffered the loss of several pregnancies. This situation caused this lovely couple severe stress and grief. In spite of language barriers, insurance difficulties, transportation complications due to living in a rural area, and cultural differences in health education, we managed to establish a working relationship and did the basic groundwork and an appropriate referral. I saw this couple in the community recently and they were happy to inform me that they were imminently anticipating the arrival of a healthy child.

In what ways is your centre able to support your health equity approach?My direct manager has been flexible and supportive of our innovative ideas to provide care to those who do not have access to care. It is my hope that we can continue to expand further in non-traditional ways to meet people where they are.__________________________________________________________________________

What’s your name, how long have you worked at the centre, and what role(s) do you fill there?My name is Peggy Nickels. I’ve worked as a Health Promoter at Guelph Community Health Centre since July 2010.

What does health equity mean to you, and how do make a health equity approach part of your work?Health equity is about ensuring that everyone has access to the supports and resources they need to meet their potential for health and wellbeing. It’s different from equality in that it’s not about people getting equal access, since different people need different things to be well and have different starting points in their lives. It also means that we need to listen to what people tell us they need, and work with them to overcome barriers, such as limited income, education, or language, to enable them to meet their needs. For me, it also includes valuing each person for who they are, recognizing and building on their unique capacities, and respecting their right to make their own choices.

Why is taking a health equity approach so important to your work?It’s important that people be able to speak for themselves when working for changes that affect them and their communities. They have strong ideas and important lived experiences to share but limited opportunities to put them forward. They may also need encouragement to speak publicly and help with preparing their stories. When I see them stand up in front of a group of politicians and agency reps for the first time and clearly speak truth to power, I feel privileged to be part of this work.

In what ways is your centre able to support your health equity approach?My CHC is a community leader in equity work, and is well-represented by our executive director and others at tables related to equity issues. My supervisor supports my advocacy work and takes issues forward through the appropriate channels. Requests don’t get bogged down in extra bureaucracy and resources are found for unplanned advocacy expenses. Our Anti-Oppression Working Group continuously challenges our organization to reflect on and change practices to be more inclusive.

RISE music group from South Riverdale CHC performing at Shift the Conversation: Community Health and Wellbeing conference. The group is an example of how AOHC members build belonging to promote health and wellbeing.

By Kate Mulligan, Director of Policy and Communications

The priorities of our society are written on our bodies. Our health status – as individuals and across populations and groups – tells important stories about our living conditions. Sometimes, these are stories we don’t have the words to express. Sometimes, our bodies are telling us that we are lonely, or excluded, or marginalized, or forgotten. More than quitting smoking or losing weight, it is a sense of belonging – of social inclusion, warm connections, and friendship – that make the difference in how long and how well we will live. That’s the message from Susan Pinker, a developmental psychologist, researcher, author, and Wall Street Journal columnist who addressed the AOHC’s recent annual conference.

At the conference, I learned first-hand how AOHC member centres fill the role of what Pinker calls “third spaces” – places in the world that anchor us to our communities and create the sense of belonging that is, for humans, a biological imperative. Throughout the conference, and during the pre-conference Belonging Summit, I saw the emotional labour of staff members on display – the caregiving and place-making that it takes to create the spaces of belonging so critical to promoting good health. I heard leadership, empathy, courage, vision and persistence. During breakout sessions and hallway chats, and over thoughtful questions and poster presentations, I was impressed by the transformative leadership in comprehensive primary health care presented in so many creative ways by AOHC members’ staff. I thought of the words of retiring AOHC communications director Mary MacNutt, who saw the conference as the work of “reflecting AOHC members’ work back to the people who make it happen.”

I saw your leadership in reminding political leaders and ourselves to make space for important conversations, such as on anti-Black racism and health. I heard of the lifelong commitments to Indigenous health and the work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. I saw the work to foster Health Links for the people most in need of belonging and care. I felt the emotional dedication to a peer leader in harm reduction for addictions and mental health. And I felt that sense of belonging and recognition that many delegates feel year after year – drawn in by community health champions who went out of the way to make sure I felt welcome at my first-ever AOHC conference.

As a health geographer, I see human health as a literal embodiment of our lived environments – the ongoing conversation between our material and social worlds. As AOHC’s new director of policy and communications, I’m interested in shifting that conversation – in sharing members’ health stories with the people who need to hear them, in seeing ourselves and our communities represented equitably in our social and political worlds, and in shaping our environments through the hard work of advocacy, political analysis and policy change.

At the conference, I saw how our members work hard to “Shift the Conversation” every day. Their stories are often the ones you don't hear represented in the media. But they are critical to the most important issues of our times – health equity and community wellbeing.

Over the past several years, we’ve succeeded at shifting conversations around health equity and health promotion, and putting those items on the government’s agenda. Health equity and health promotion are specifically mentioned in the LHIN mandate letters and Patients First legislation. It’s in the news and on the radar for the next election, with commitments already made on pharmacare by the Liberals and NDP – the first campaign promises on equity out of the gate. Soon, we’ll be shifting the conversation a little further by putting health equity not just on the table but at the centre: of the work we do, of public conversations about Ontario’s future, of policies for primary health care, and the work of building healthier communities.

Individually, we are not tireless. As Desmond Cole pointed out in his acceptance speech for the Media Award at the AOHC conference, our work can take a toll on our bodies, our relationships, and our health. But together we are relentless in our work for health equity and community wellbeing.

We have so many stories to tell. To make real change, we must tell them now. What’s yours?

If you have stories to share, please send them to Jason Rehel, story producer and editor at AOHC, at jason.rehel@aohc.org. For conference highlights, check out this Storify recap.