ENTERPRISE
The people of Enterprise have spoken on what they would like to see happen to promote community wellness.
Six-year-old Gina Lenoir is lifted up so she can vote on ideas to promote community wellness in Enterprise. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
In fact, they actually had an informal vote for their priorities.
About 20 people - a significant turnout in a community of about 100 residents - attended the wrap-up meeting on March 13 of a community wellness planning process, which has also been taking place in other communities throughout the NWT.
The residents were shown flipcharts containing dozens of ideas gathered in previous meetings, and they then placed small stickers next to the ideas they liked the most.
Among the top voted options were such things as a daycare for the community, increasing Internet skills, more family nights, anti-smoking initiatives, on-the-land activities, fitness classes, crafts, and literacy promotion.
"I think this is a good event because it's got the people of the community out. What we want is the community's word to see what they want," said Sandra McMaster, a resident of Enterprise. "Hopefully this makes Enterprise a better community."
The ideas will be presented to hamlet council for consideration in its current budget process.
"Council will take them from there and decide which priorities they will build their budgets around," said Amy Mercredi, the facilitator of the community wellness engagement project for the Hamlet of Enterprise.
Like other communities, Enterprise received funding from the GNWT to conduct the community wellness planning process.
In Enterprise, three sessions - separate ones for seniors, couples, and students and single people - were held leading up to the March 13 meeting.
One issue that kept coming up at the meetings was the importance of volunteers, said Mercredi.
"We need more people to come out and do things. They all want these things, but we need more people to come out."
Sabrina Broadhead of the Department of Health and Social Services helped out with the process in
Enterprise and many other communities, and attended the March 13 meeting.
Broadhead said work on community wellness plans has been undertaken because of a coming change to multi-year block funding.
The federal government has changed the framework for wellness funding the GNWT gets from Health Canada, she said.
"If you don't have a wellness plan, you can't apply for the funding. For the first time ever, the wellness funding will be provided to communities in multi-year, block-funding agreements."
Broadhead said the GNWT is working to prepare to transition to the new system, and the community wellness plans are a piece of that process.
Once a community has a wellness plan, the Department of Health and Social Services will work with it to build a work plan and then seek to access funding.
