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GUELPH — Dozens of newcomers to Canada filed through the Guelph Newcomer Health Fair at the Shelldale Centre Saturday afternoon to learn about the health services available to them in the city — the primary goal of the event.
But local organizations also learned about each other and there is growing awareness of the challenges newcomers face as they enter and try to navigate the health care system, said an organizer.
“I’m excited by the partnerships,” said Samantha Blostein, with the group Growing Community Health. “The agencies have become more aware of these people and how they can help them. In my view, that already makes it a success.”
Blostein said landed immigrants, refugees, international students, and migrant workers each face different challenges in accessing health services.
Language is often a barrier, but not the only one.
“It’s a hard system to navigate,” said Olivia Kijewski, women’s community development coordinator for ARCH Guelph. “I’m Canadian-born and have been in Guelph for 11 years and I still don’t know all the services. There are a lot of doors to go through.”
“So to have all the resources in one place is a good start to get connected,” added Valentina Naranjo, multicultural outreach coordinator at the Guelph Community Health Centre. “We want to make the services accessible to newcomers.”
Visitors to the fair could have HIV and STI testing done on site, could fill out an application for a family doctor, could get free assessments from chiropractors and orthotic specialists, and could even get a flu shot.
They could also speak with representatives from some 30 health care organizations at the fair thanks to a number of translators, who helped with that communication.
“Language needs to be something agencies think about,” Naranjo said.
Sarah Kay and Michael Su are peer help educators at the University of Guelph’s Wellness Education Centre. They said the university holds a number of information events on campus so students — both domestic and international — can become familiar with the help they can get while at school.
Kay said there’s a focus on mental health and sexual health on campus, but much of the work they do overlaps with services in the community.
“We have many resources on campus and some of them are open to the general population. Today we hope to broaden our outreach,” Kay said.
Ella Henderson, project specialist with the Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership, said 21 per cent of Guelph’s population is made up of immigrants and some 600 to 700 newcomers settle in Guelph every year.
“It’s a significant number,” Henderson said. “Big enough to warrant some attention.”