Message From the CEO
As the year comes to a close many of us are thankful. Thankful to see a year-end that has seen a global crisis, a health pandemic, affect us all. A year when the ugly face of racism came out of the shadows and attacked so cruelly and sadly. We even see Covid-19 attack unequally, harder in marginalized and racialized communities. So I too am thankful to see 2020 come to an end, but with the hope that we are learning that we are coming together to address the injustices of health inequities in so many of our neighbourhoods of Scarborough.
Let’s look at some of the things we are doing at SCHC to ensure health equity for all. We started by educating ourselves on the issues pertaining to the Black Lives Matters advocacy and how we can be a part of a system that fights for anti black racism. We are partnering with others in our community to understand and work to remove barriers that negatively affect the social determinants of health, including physical, mental, spiritual, physical environments, income, employment, childhood experiences, gender, culture and race. We know that we cannot effect lasting change alone so we are committed to being a part of a permanent solution, part of a stronger, healthier community. In the New Year, we will be reaching out to our community to help us with this goal, to continue to educate, inform and guide us. In the meantime, we continue to be here for our community. We continue to ensure safe access to our services during the COVID-19 pandemic are maintained and improved, and while we miss seeing many of you in person, we have learned to appreciate glimpses of each other ‘virtually’. As always your opinions matter to us, so I encourage you to reach out to us, visit us at www.schcontario. ca and let us know how we are doing and how we can do better. While I am thankful to see 2020 come to an end, I want to end by also saying how thankful I am to be part of wonderful organization and community that inspires me to better every day. Stay safe, Jeanie Joaquin |