THE COMMUNITY WELL – Connection, Community, Wellness
The health care system across Canada was experiencing shortages in staff pre-pandemic. Concerns over rising chronic and acute mental and physical health conditions, difficulty accessing specialized care, and increasing social isolation were already being discussed by the provinces and health authorities pre-COVID. Many Canadians do not have a consistent health care provider, or access to trained mental health care providers in their home communities. The pandemic exacerbated these pre-existing issues and over the last two years we have seen how these gaps in care and services impact our vulnerable populations, specifically our older adults in the community.
The Community Well, a newly formed volunteer group in Foam Lake, came together with the goal of addressing these concerns at a grass roots level. We hope to work together with seniors and citizens of all age groups to link older adults to programs and services that already exist, to provide increased opportunity for mentorship, to evaluate our current infrastructure for seniors in community, to increase access to health care professionals and health information, and to create new programs that will increase socialization and wellness across the community. We aim to access and utilize for the betterment of our community – the federal and provincial grant programs that are accessible to all communities, with the goal of creating programs and improving infrastructure to help older adults, and the community at large, age well, stay home longer, decrease social isolation, and improve general health and well-being.
In order to focus the efforts of this group we are distributing a survey community-wide that will help to identify specific areas for growth. These surveys will be available at the Town Office, Foam Lake Pharmacy, the Foam Lake RM Office, Senior Citizens Centre, Health Centre and on the Town’s website and Facebook through a google form. We are also calling upon any interested older adults and volunteers of any age with an interest in this area to join our group.
CLICK HERE to complete the survey: https://forms.gle/ku5RdQcymfxY8M629
For more information please contact Celise Hack at 306-269-8800.