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# ABSTRACT
Healthcare should be for everyone, but for newcomer women, it often isn’t. Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park are vibrant, diverse “arrival communities” and home to thousands of newcomer women building their futures. Yet for many, simply accessing basic healthcare remains an uphill climb.
Our community-led study, From Barriers to Solutions, explored the healthcare experiences of 180 reproductive-age newcomer women through surveys and multilingual focus groups. Their stories reveal everyday barriers that often go unseen: long waits and rigid clinic hours pushing families toward walk-in and emergency care, language gaps and cultural insensitivity leaving women feeling unheard, and additional burdens such as transportation costs, mental health stigma, and lack of on-site childcare.
Despite these challenges, participants offered clear, actionable solutions. They prioritized primary care access, dental care for children, urgent care clinics, mental health support, and culturally safe services. Community-driven recommendations include creating a multilingual community health help desk, offering after-hours and urgent care clinics, providing on-site childcare during health programs, developing gender-inclusive fitness spaces, and subsidizing medical transit.
This study is more than data; it is a roadmap. By centring newcomer women’s voices, we can shift from fragmented, one-size-fits-all systems to care that is inclusive, responsive, and rooted in trust. These insights align with Dr. Jane Philpott’s Primary Care Action Plan and Ontario Health Teams’ vision for integrated, team-based primary care. To advance health equity, we must invest in community-based needs assessments so community voices do more than inform; they guide decisions and drive real change.
Funded by the TD Community Health Solutions Research Grant, this community-led study engaged partners and volunteers from Flemingdon Health Centre, Health Access Thorncliffe Park, and The Neighbourhood Organization. Ethics approval was granted by the Michael Garron Hospital Research Ethics Board.