Wellness funds supporting 37 projects in the tri-counties
The four Community Health Boards (CHBs) in the tri-counties have announced funding for 37 community projects that support local population health priorities.
The Yarmouth County board is funding 15 projects; Clare, six; Digby and Area, nine; and Shelburne County, seven.
“We are dedicated to improving population health by supporting activities which promote the collective wellness of our communities,” said Nancy Hsu, Digby and Area Community Health Board co-chair in a press release. “Wellness fund grants give local organizations the opportunity to creatively address needs specific to our unique communities. They help us grow health from the ground up.”
Clyde deViller, who is the coordinator for the Yarmouth County, Clare and Digby and Area CHBs, said the three boards received a lot of applications this year and although they couldn’t fund all of them, they “funded a good part of them.”
“We do have some good projects, a nice variety of things,” said deViller in an interview. “It’s a way for us as a community health board to allow community groups, which are all either schools, non-profit groups or recreation departments, basically to take our health plan and put it into action. It’s like they are the hands and the feet of what we identified as important to our plan.”
All the approved projects are related to the top four priorities identified in the NSHA western zone shared Community Health Plan: food security, affordable housing, social connections, and wellness and recreation.
Deviller said the plan is based on community input, data, research, surveys and actual health profiles for the western zone. “It’s not a fly-by-night document,” he said. “It’s a valid document that could be used for other funding applications by other groups if any of their projects touch on our priorities.”
Groups have 12 months to complete the projects once they receive funds.
“It’s a feel-good kind of fund,” said deViller. “Even though it’s not large sums of money, the groups are thankful for the funding we give because it does help them make a difference in their community and mostly that’s their goal. That’s what they want to do.”
Grants from the CHB wellness fund are awarded annually to non-profit organizations across the province working to improve the health of their communities, based on priorities identified in the Community Health Plan. CHB members look for projects that support one or more of priorities among their wellness fund applications. Oct. 15 is the deadline to submit an application each year.
Coordinator of the Shelburne County CHB, Elisabeth Bailey, said the Shelburne County board is “delighted to support this year’s group of interesting and well-designed projects. We were especially pleased to receive many applications that spoke to our health plan priorities, such as food security, community connection, and recreation and wellness.”
The public will soon have the opportunity to learn more about the projects and community health boards at several upcoming events.
Wellness fund celebrations, where recipients present overviews of their projects, are being held in Digby on March 2 at Digby Station, and on March 3 at NSCC Burridge in Yarmouth. Both events start at 6:30 p.m. A third wellness celebration will be held in Clare on May 7. The location and time have not yet been determined.
In Shelburne County, the CHB will be hosting a Community Vaping Information Session at the King St. Community Centre at 6 p.m. on March 25. This event is free and open to the public.
The following is a list of the Tri-County Wellness Fund projects receiving support: