PlanH Regional Forums

PlanH partnered with each health authority on a series of five forums taking place in each region to take stock of: the impacts of collaborative efforts between local governments, health authorities, and other community partners; the key factors that are enabling this success; and how we can grow this impact moving forward.

Find stories, presentations from the events, photo galleries and visual notes at the following links:

Interior: This forum began with speakers sharing diverse range of successes and experience covering climate action, collaboration constellations, local food initiatives, housing, homelessness, poverty reduction strategies and healthy community connections. The latter part of the forum focused on health in the context of a changing climate, leading to the conclusion that health needs to be a central message in the climate change agenda.

Island: Keynote speaker Al Etmanski encouraged delegates to think and act like a movement as movements provide a vehicle for collaboration across sectors and organizations, while local presenters celebrated intiatives related to physical literacy, community data collection, Aboriginal cultural safety, healthy aging, food security, and many more topics.

Northern: Dr. Sandra Allison, Chief Medical Health Officer of Northern Health, celebrated the strength and collaborative skills of Northern communities and announced that “Healthy People in Healthy Communities” is a priority in Northern Health’s new strategic plan.  Common themes from the many powerful presentations included the importance of communication, public engagement, volunteers and community champions, and how funding has enabled much of their work.

Coastal: The theme of this forum was “Celebrating & Reflecting,” and it highlighted the successes to date of Healthy Community Partnerships throughout the Vancouver Coastal region with inspirational stories from staff and elected officials representing six diverse communities of different sizes and geographic locations.

Fraser: Nearly 150 local government leaders, Fraser Health representatives and community partners flooded the University of Fraser Valley campus to engage in a full day of inspirational presentations, compelling discussion, and networking, all based around the theme of “Inspiration and Catalyzing Action.”