The wellbeing of northern Manitobans cannot be the sole responsibility of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.
That was the takeaway from the recent First Annual Northern Health Summit, organized by the Northern Health Region (NHR) in Thompson.
“To hear that it’s a shared responsibility was incredibly validating for those of us that have been in health care for a long, long time,” said Helga Bryant, CEO of the NHR.
The Oct. 28 summit explored the social determinants of health, such as socio-economic status, poverty, education, employment and access to resources.
“People really expanded their thinking to that of the social determinants of health,” said Bryant, “and they really recognized that the health care system is only a very small part of what contributes to someone feeling healthy and being healthy.”
Upwards of 120 people attended the summit, including representatives from education, municipal governments, First Nations communities, industry and the province.
Partnerships
Bryant said that while the health care system will not hand off its responsibilities, partnerships with other agencies are important to ensuring good health in a population.
One partnership might be between health care and schools, she said.
“We need to leverage with schools about, do kids have breakfast before they come to school?” said Bryant. “How could we help with public health issues in the school? So it’s really partnering and working with those kinds of organizations and with communities to build that capacity for health.”
Among those attending the summit were representatives from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, who shared region-specific health information that Bryant called “very relevant to northerners.”
The Centre for Health Policy is the body responsible for the 2013 RHA Indicators Atlas and the Manitoba Child Health Atlas, two detailed reports available for download online.
Bryant said information gleaned from the inaugural summit will be incorporated into the NHR’s strategic planning going forward.
Next year’s summit will take place in Flin Flon.
