Whether your mental health has taken a hit over the past few months, or your eating habits have seen an uptick in junk food consumption, COVID-19 has affected all of our lives in a variety of ways. Health concerns predominate – not just the virus itself, but the changes that that have come with the resultant lockdown.
Determining how we’re adapting is the goal of a Woolwich Community Health Centre (WCHC) survey asking people in the community to share their needs when it comes to health and wellness.
“We want to continue connecting to our community and promote health and wellness. We know it’s a really hard time for everyone and we want to do our best to address any health or wellness needs that may be emerging, especially due to COVID. And we want to focus on the needs of our communities in Woolwich and Wellesley, as well as with the priority populations that we’ve identified – such as seniors, youth, families and farm families. We just want to enhance the educational and support groups and programs that we offer, or plan to offer,” said Alice Wang, youth community worker.
Wang says they want to get a large and diverse population to complete the survey so they can see the needs related to healthy eating, fitness, mental health, seniors, youth, and more, and then provide services to those who are looking for assistance in the areas which are lacking. She says WCHC is already planning programming for the fall and once the survey is completed, they’d like to take the data they receive and start making changes immediately.
“We would just really appreciate if they gave a bit of their time to complete this survey. It’s on our website and Facebook and it should take less than 10 minutes to complete. We really value everybody’s opinions and we would really appreciate a diversity of community members to complete this survey,” Wang added.
Launched last week the survey has seen more than 200 people participate so far. Wang says most of the responses are coming from women and older adults and she asks people from other groups to join in their efforts to help make the townships a better and healthier place.
Also launched is the Wellness Corner Blog, a place where staff members can contribute articles and other items relating to health and wellness each week, as the WCHC strives to offer new programming during this time. The blog includes articles, fun activities and more things for people to enjoy from the comfort of their homes.
The survey can be accessed through the WCHC website.
