This summer, members of the Scarborough Ontario Health Team (SOHT) staff team have been busy attending events in the Scarborough area to engage with community members and provide healthcare resources to residents. We enthusiastically participated in the Scarborough Community Festival (June 10) at West Hill Collegiate Institute, the Pride Festival Toronto (June 23-25), and most recently at the Ward 24 Community BBQ (August 9) at Lee Centre Park.

Healthy communities have active and engaged community members. There are many ways to engage. Events like the Ward 24 Community BBQ provide a unique opportunity for SOHT to get to know those we serve and to involve residents in local decision making that will have an impact on their community. The Ward 24 Community BBQ is an annual free event hosted by Paul Ainslie, City of Toronto Councillor for the Scarborough-Guildwood neighbourhood. The BBQ was well attended and SOHT staff members interacted with 25 people who were a mix of caregivers, elderly, young adults, and healthcare workers.

Information about the following initiatives and programs were shared with community members:

·         Ontario Health Team model, SOHT, and SOHT client and family advisor recruitment

·         Toronto Health and Social Services Directory (https://torontoservicedirectory.ca/): a directory to find health, social and community services in Toronto (including East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York)

·         VaxFacts+ Clinic (https://www.shn.ca/vaxfacts/): one-to-one phone consultation with a doctor that helps community members and families get the most accurate information on vaccines, cancer screening, preventative health counselling for infectious diseases, health risk factors, community resources, and more

·         Cancer screening for cervical, breast and colorectal from the Central East Regional Cancer Program (https://cercp.ca/)

·         Health Care Connect program: program launched by the Ministry to help Ontarians without a family health care provider find one

Community members also filled out a survey that will help inform the development of SOHT’s Community Newsletter. Preliminary results show that community members from the Scarborough-Guildwood neighbourhood currently access information about health and community services from medical offices and that more information is needed on how to access a family doctor, services for seniors, vaccinations, caregiver support, chronic disease management, and accessing community support services. Community members expressed that they were interested in receiving a community newsletter and people signed up for the newsletter at the BBQ.

SOHT is continuing to attend community outreach events, including the Scarborough Multicultural Festival on October 6^th at Thomson Memorial Park. We hope to see you there!