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Tamarack is sharing this collection of resources, how-to manuals,
and neat stories in the hopes of inspiring others to build
on these ideas and improve the health and well-being of themselves
and others.
Health is almost the most basic quality a
community needs. Without good health, the economic, social,
cultural, and spiritual condition of your community is likely
to decline. Health is intricately linked to many social factors,
so community action on health can have many positive effects
in all sorts of areas. And good health isn’t just the
absence of disease—it’s how people live in their
environment and how they live with each other. The community
has a tremendous impact on our health; we need to study that
connection more, and find ways to improve both.
We suggest you take some time to look over
the two introductory pieces below. They’ll give you
a basic grasp of the issues, before you start exploring the
rest of the material. If you know of something we could include
here in the future, please let Louise know by emailing tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca.
Ontario
Healthy Communities Coalition: From the Ground Up—An
Organizing Handbook for Healthy Communities This guide,
designed by the OHCC and its volunteers, is meant to help
people start healthy community projects where they live. It
lays out, step by step, how to decide what your community
needs, how to make it happen, and who will help you out. It
includes several appendices, with a useful glossary, other
resources to read, and even samples of forms you might need.
This document will help individuals and organizations alike.
South
Riverdale Community Health Centre: Making Environmental Health
Happen in the Community: A Resource Manual This resource
manual is filled with great information about health and
the things that affect it. We like the South Riverdale CHC’s
whole-system view: they know that health is affected by environment,
income, employment, and education, and their solutions reflect
that breadth. This manual suggests many good ways of improving
community health through innovative strategies. Education,
collaboration, comprehensive strategies and community involvement
all feature strongly.
Community Health: a measure
of the degree to which healthy individuals comprise a healthy
community, recognizing the interdependence of the individuals
and the whole.
Health: not merely the absence
of disease; health is a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being. Health is therefore dependent on many
diverse factors: social, economic, environmental, and spiritual
conditions.
Health Promotion: from the
World Health Organization (WHO) definition—“Health
Promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control
over, and to improve their health.” People are healthier
and happier when they are in control of their own health needs,
so health promotion allows them to make informed choices.
Community Engagement: people
working collaboratively, through inspired action and learning,
to create and realize bold visions for their common future.
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Download this Guide in PDF format