NUNAVUT - Workshops were held last month in Cape Dorset, Pond Inlet and Arviat on the GN's Department of Health and Social Services' Public Health Strategy. The last workshop wrapped up in Taloyoak on March 30.

"It is the first year of the Public Health Strategy and it is a darn good start," said Flo Frank, a facilitator who was hired by the Department of Health and Social Services to help run the workshops.

The priorities in the report Developing Healthy Communities: A Public Health Strategy for Nunavut 2008-2013 were improving the health of children, food security, reducing tobacco use and substance abuse and reducing physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

The workshops are designed to get communities to identify what programs and services they need and want most. Frank said the ultimate goal for the department is to design such services and programs and implement them.

In almost all communities Frank visited, she said residents told her about an increase in tobacco, alcohol and drug use among young people and about a lack of programs to teach young parents the skills they need.

Other issues raised included a lack of staff in communities, a lack of specialists and a need for ongoing training.

With the strategy already developed, the challenge is to implement it in communities by developing tools and training communities can use to reach the goals.

Frank said one product coming out of the workshops is a handbook for all individuals working at the community level, especially community health committees. Their terms of reference and guidelines are being updated to reflect some of the feedback that has been heard at the workshops. An example would be extending the length of the term of a health committee member from one year to two or three years. She said the expectation is to have the handbook available for use by the summer.

"We are refining the guidelines the committees already have," she said.

Participants at the workshops also learned skills including how to write proposals, how to hold effective meetings and learned from each other's experiences.

Another idea discussed in the various communities was encouraging youth to get more involved, said Frank.

"We want to find ways for the youth to be proactive," she said.

Frank said a Youth Health Strategy was drafted in 2009 by youth at last year's meeting. During this round of workshops, the department was asking for feedback on the draft, which includes various components designed by youth for youth in order to increase their participation in health promotion and in their communities.

Pond Inlet's youth council president Bryan Simonee took part in the workshop held in his hamlet.

"It is good to have better communications between communities on health issues," he said when asked what he took away from the workshop.

He said it is good to know that there is support that exists for communities who want to get their youth more involved in community initiatives.

Simonee said it was good to connect with those working in other communities as he learned that the problems in Pond Inlet such as social issues, poverty and substance abuse exist elsewhere and are not isolated.

The department will take all the information and feedback and finalize the youth strategy and develop and circulate the handbooks.

"We are seeing that there is good progress being made and that communities are very proud of what they are doing," said Frank.