Calgary health event helps newcomers navigate Canadian health-care system

Hundreds gathered at the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre for the StrongHER Together event, which aims to help newcomers navigate the Canadian health-care system

Hundreds of people gathered at the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre on Tuesday to attend a free health and wellness event.

The StrongHER Together event was designed specifically for families who are new to Canada.

Madison Fullerton from Praxus Health says they collaborated with a several community organizations to put the event together, with the goal of helping newcomers navigate the Canadian health-care system.

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“It can be really intimidating navigating a new health system,” Fullerton said. “There’s a lot of different barriers that people face — language barriers are a really big one. We have over 30 health ambassadors here today that speak over 20 different languages to help support one-on-one translation for people as they go booth to booth.”

Fullterton says transportation can be another barrier for newcomers, so buses were used to drive to different community organizations to pick people up and take them to the event.

“The goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to interact and engage in their health,” Fullerton said.

“The Calgary Liver Unit is here doing liver health checks, we have pop-up vaccinations, we have people talking about sexual and reproductive health, the City of Calgary and Calgary Public Library are talking about the social programs they offer,” Fullerton added, calling it a one-stop-shop for wellness.

Fullerton says one of the goals of Praxus Health is to bring awareness to women’s health.

“Let’s normalize talking about menopause, let’s normalize talking about the menstrual cycle,” she said. “If we can bring a bunch of groups together to offer different services related to all the different topics that effect women, that’s really the goal of today.”

The event ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.