Community health fair provides culturally safe and inclusive health care

Inaugural Community Health Fair

In 2022, the University of Alberta Black Medical Students’ Association (BMSA) took a novel approach to addressing the reluctance to seek health care among underserved communities in Edmonton; they brought the health care to the communities that need it, in the shape of a community health fair. The inaugural event in 2022 was a huge success, attracting almost 450 attendees following only two weeks of promotion. This year’s event — which they hope will be the next of many annual community health fairs to come — has been scheduled for April 30, 2023.

BMSA's current president Sahra Kaahiye, who has strong roots in Edmonton’s Somali community, is aware of the need for culturally safe and inclusive access to health-care information and resources for people of colour and racialized communities in Edmonton. “They don't feel seen or heard. They feel dismissed, ignored, and believe their pain isn’t taken seriously. They feel as if there is no point in going to doctors if this is the experience they’ll have,” she explains. Kaahiye and her fellow medical school students also recognize that the access they have to the best instructors, doctors and specialists who can give them life-saving information puts them in a unique position of being able to give back to the community.

Event organizers wanted a fun and welcoming environment so attendees wouldn’t feel intimidated, and they decided a fair-like atmosphere would fit the bill. “A lot of our intended audience have children and very busy lives,” Kaahiye acknowledges, “so we decided to occupy the kids by making it a fair with food, games, a bouncy castle and activities so while the parents are learning about their health, the kids are entertained.” Kaahiye recalls when she first knew the idea paid off. “At last year’s fair I saw a father say to his daughter, ‘Let's go, I want to go’, and the daughter responded with ‘One more game!’ and ran off. He gave a big sigh and said ‘Well, I guess I'll go learn about my health’ as he walked toward a men's health table.”

This year’s theme is preventive health, and will bring together providers of men's and women’s health, pediatric health, chronic disease, obesity management, heart health, respiratory health and mental health. Providers who are new to the event this year include a sickle cell anemia organization, a prenatal care organization, optometry and, thanks to new BMSA members from the School of Dentistry, a dentistry booth. The Injury Prevention Centre will be there along with  Screening for Life Alberta, Alberta Health Services’ mobile cancer screening service, EMCF, Black Donors Save Lives (a stem cell club), and the FentaNIL Project, which is led by U of A students. The Africa Centre and the Alberta College of Family Physicians will be participating once again this year to help connect attendees to additional health and community resources.

Accessing health care isn’t the only goal of the fair; changing the face of health care is also on the table. To support their desire to help increase Black representation at the U of A medical school, the BMSA invited junior high school students to volunteer at the event. “We decided to reach out to those youth by bringing them in as volunteers so they can sit side by side with doctors and pick their brains the whole day,” she says. They hope that by introducing Black youth to health professions when they're in the early stages of considering career options, they’ll be encouraged to pursue a career in medicine.

The student-led group MD AIDE will also be available for those attendees ready to take the next step toward medical school. MD AIDE assists individuals interested in medical school with MCAT information, funding and other supports to decrease barriers to attending. “We had considerable interest in medical school at last year’s fair from all ages and education levels, so we want to make sure people get that information,” says Kaahiye.

“We want people who come to the fair to know that it’s an open, safe and fun event to attend and learn about their own health or the health of their family and loved ones,” she says. “They’ll have access to so many types of doctors who can answer their questions, and other health-care and community professionals to connect them to services that might save their lives.”

The BMSA Health Fair is taking place on Sunday, April 30 from noon - 5 p.m. at the Castledowns YMCA (11510 153 Ave. NW, Edmonton). This is a FREE community event for all ages.