The Launch of the “Be Well, Work Well” research project at Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) could not come at a more important time. As we all know, COVID-19 has placed an incredible, direct economic impact and social stress on businesses and communities worldwide.
 
Rural communities and local businesses in Huron and Perth Counties have been uniquely impacted. Gateway CERH has joined forces with the University of Guelph and other local partners in conjunction with the Ontario Government to understand the impact of COVID-19, mental health and substance use on rural workplaces.
 
On November 1st, a short survey will be distributed across both Counties to explore workplace experiences, identifying both economic and social impacts throughout the pandemic. The project will aim to strengthen Huron-Perth rural communities by ensuring that the voices of local employers and their employees are heard and reflected in the solutions. By joining communities together through roundtable discussions and focus groups, the project will support the resiliency of local businesses, employers and employees into the future.
 
Gwen Devereaux, President of Gateway CERH, expressed her support for the project, suggesting, “it is very important that this project will be anchored in the current conditions of the COVID-19 Pandemic as it is crucial that we take the time to listen to the unique experiences of rural businesses, employees and residents of Huron and Perth Counties.”
 
Ultimately, the project will be driven by the voice of businesses in Huron and Perth Counties — to develop strategies that optimize local assets, build resiliency to address business needs and improve the well-being of rural business and our local communities.
 
Lisa Thompson, MPP Huron-Bruce, reiterated the importance of this project, “This is indeed a very timely and important project. I always try to put a rural lens on various issues and topics as they arise and I am sure such an approach — using local business owners and residents — will be invaluable to this study.
 
For more information on this project, please reach out to the Project Leads, Bonnie Baynham (bonchi@live.com) or Matthew Maynard at (matthew.g.maynard@gmail.com). 

Nutrition is critical for overall health, management of chronic illnesses and maintaining independent living. According to Dr. Al Lauzon, rural seniors face more significant challenges and are at greater risk of food insecurity than their urban counterparts (Lauzon, 2018, p. 18). A range of factors impacts rural senior’s experience with food insecurity and accessibility. Notably, rural seniors experience additional barriers around the regionalization of grocery stores, a scarcity of support services such as meals on wheels or other meal delivery programs and preparation services. Some of these issues are underpinned by distance to support and health services, access to affordable, nutritious food and the lack of transportation options to get there. COVID-19 has exacerbated many of these issues and continues to deepen the gaps that impact food accessibility.  
 A partnership between Gateway and the University of Guelph, The Food Accessibility and Insecurity Amongst Rural Seniors project will explore regular eating patterns, food consumption, food security/insecurity experiences, accessibility to food, and diet adequacy. It will also explore possible changes between the relationship with food and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project team is currently looking for rural seniors in Huron, Perth, Bruce or Grey Counties who are 70+ years and older to participate in the project. Participants will be asked to have a 60- minute interview over the phone. The purpose of the study is to examine food concerns and to help better meet the nutrition needs of rural seniors.  
For further information on the project, please visit:  
https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/food-insecurity.html    
If you or someone you know is interested in participating in the project, please reach out to us.  

Katie Allen, Participant Recruitment Officer at: katie@gatewayruralhealth.ca, or  
Casandra Bryant, Project Manager at: casandra@gatewayruralhealth.ca   
Postcard or flyer print promotional materials can be made available upon request or can be downloaded at https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/food-insecurity.html    

Resiliency is defined as being able to get back up from adversity and hard life transitions or events. It means being able to get to a stage of working through difficult feelings and emotions to get to a stage of mental wellness.

Individual resiliency has been consistently tested and negatively impacted through the pandemic, everyone’s everyday lives drastically changed under imposed safety restrictions. For many people it is hard to maintain resiliency and accept this new “normal” largely because of continued social isolation and the impact on mental wellness.

A key component of fostering resilience in these changing times is through developing and applying coping mechanisms. Personal coping mechanisms help to reduce the stress that comes with these difficult transitions. Research indicates stress plays a strong part in both physical and mental wellbeing.
One coping mechanism shared our Connectedness Coaching educational programs is making sure you’re maintaining consistency in your life despite the changes, creating a schedule for yourself even if you’re working from home to maintain work-life balance. Building up a new routine can help things feel predictable while ensuring all the items that are important to you receive some time in your day.

Consider scheduling in work hours, healthy eating and cooking time, self-care time, and time to connect with others and perhaps participate in the next Connectedness Coaching event.

To learn more about resiliency and other ways of coping register for Connectedness Coaching (Webinar and/or our E-Learning Course) using the links below.

Registration Links for Upcoming Webinars & Registration for our E-Learning Course:

North Perth Residents (Feb 24)
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/connectedness-coaching-empowering-resilient-communities-north-perth-tickets-138490531909

Open Invite (Feb 26)
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/connectedness-coaching-empowering-resilient-communities-open-invite-tickets-140392765541

The term Cultural Complexities describes the multiplicity of cultural influences that take shape in each of us. Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health is proud to partner with The Huron Immigration Partnership to   bring our community members an in-depth exploration of social justice and inclusion issues. Facilitator Michele Manocchi (Michele Manocchi Organizational Consulting) is a highly acclaimed specialist with a Ph.D. in Comparative Social Research, an Intercultural Competency Master Trainer Certificate, and a Strategy Implementation Institute Certificate. Michele is committed to supporting communities in addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion. Furthermore, having arrived in Canada from Italy in 2013, he continuously uses his own lens as an immigrant to inform and understand the systems around him and the framework that he brings to his work.

During this webinar you will have opportunity to reflect on your own cultural complexity while sharing stories and experiences with other learners.  By the end of the session you will come away with an understanding of the core elements of the definition of culture, complexity, and cultural complexity; become more knowledgeable about unconscious bias, privileges, power dynamics, and systemic discrimination and their consequences. Strategies to address those issues as well as methods to identify and overcome potential challenges while communicating in culturally complex situations will be shared. These sessions will be taking place on March 19 at 9am and 6pm. For those who attend one of the sessions on March 19, a debrief follow-up session is recommended and will be held on March 26 at 6pm.

Click here to register. 

With the recent pandemic there has been a greater increase in social isolation due to the lockdown and physical distancing measures currently in place. Extensive research has shown social isolation has negative impacts on one’s mental health and well-being. So, to generate more resilience and inspire dialogue to action, Gateway is now offering free educational opportunities for the community. It’s a chance to learn more about peer support, coaching conversations, system navigation and how to be an advocate within your community. The free Connectedness Coaching program addresses these topics and more!

The program is available as a six-hour self-paced e-learning course and via zoom webinar, both providing opportunities to engage with other learners. Our Gallery for Inspiration is a freely accessible website meant to inspire action among community members by getting ideas rolling of ways to invest and give back to the community during these difficult times.  

We look forward to supporting your continuous learning journey.

For more information on the workshops and to register for the programs please go to our website at: www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/connectedness-coaching.

The Gateway board of directors is pleased to announce Leslie Walker has been appointed as a Research Associate.
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Leslie is currently completing her Doctorate of Social and Economic Sciences at the Vienna, Austria University of Technology. Her research focuses on technology theories and policies to reduce the inequality associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health care. As such her research conclusions are highly relevant to regions such as Huron County.

"I am thrilled to be joining the Gateway team and have already been inspired by the world class research and the commitment to rural health in our region. I hope to use my consulting background to strengthen the organization and amplify the amazing value the Gateway team has created thus far” said Walker.

Originally from Goderich, Leslie completed her Honours Bachelor of Commerce and Psychology at McMaster University and Master of International Business from Queen’s University, including an international MBA exchange to Guanghua School of Management in Beijing, China. She has spent the last four years working with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), working globally on large digital enablement projects with major tech companies such as Google and Microsoft. Her focus on public-sector clients has allowed her to use cloud technology and a metrics-based approach to provide better, more cost-effective services to citizens.
Gwen Devereaux Gateway CERH said, “How fortunate we are to have Leslie join us bringing such exceptional talent to our region”.
Leslie has always celebrated her Huron County roots and is particularly fond of summers in Goderich. She can be frequently seen paddle boarding on the lake, enjoying the G2G trail and visiting the Goderich Library.

Gateway is pleased to announce that it has received donations totaling $1,000 from Hensall Co-op and the Poultry Farmers of Huron County.
 
The cheque presentations were held at the Gateway offices in Goderich.  Seen in the photo (l. to r.) are Jessica Kuiper representing both the poultry farmers and Hensall Co-op, Gwen Devereaux, president, Gateway CERH and Alex Westerhout of the Poultry Farmers organization.
 
Each September the poultry farmers hold a golf tournament and donate the proceeds of the event to a local charity.  For many years Gateway has been a recipient of some of the funds raised.  Hensall Co-op is assisting organizations in the region that have been affected by the COVID pandemic.
 
Gateway CERH’s president, Gwen Devereaux, expressed her appreciation and gratitude for these donations; “This ongoing support from the agriculture community is key in allowing Gateway CERH to provide research and programs supporting members in this vital sector of our economy”.

We are pleased to welcome Alis Bonsignore, PhD (candidate), R.Kin to our team at Gateway, Centre of Excellence in Rural Health. Ms. Bonsignore previously obtained her Master’s degree in the Department of Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia and is completing her PhD in the Department of Exercise Sciences at the University of Toronto (anticipated Winter 2021). During her PhD, she was honored with one of the highest ranked Canadian graduate scholarships from the Canadian Institution of Health Research and was successful in securing over $175,000 in funding to support her research. The focus on her research program examined the physiological changes that occur to both the blood vessels and the heart secondary to cancer therapies. Secondly, she examined how these physiological mechanisms can be used to inform clinical practice and policy to determine which cancer survivors should be referred to cardiac rehabilitation in order to reduce their risk of heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in this population.
 
In her new role as the Program Director, Healthy Hearts Cardiac Rehabilitation, she has a growing interest in understanding the differences in the delivery, uptake and effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation programs in rural communities compared to more urban centres. Secondly, she is interested in designing more effective and integrated models of cardiac rehabilitation aimed at addressing the unique barriers that are experienced in rural communities. She hopes that this research will help inform policy makers, government and stakeholders on how cardiac rehabilitation can be improved to ensure equity of access and delivery of care in rural communities.
 
In addition to her research experience, Ms. Bonsignore has extensive experience as a clinical Kinesiologist in cardiac rehabilitation, in program design and development, and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level. These experiences will lend success to her new role at Gateway, Centre of Excellence in Rural Health. Please join us in welcoming Alis to her new role.