Rotary Centennial Award of $100,000 to Sherbourne Health Centre, The Rotary Club of Toronto Newcomer Clinic
The Rotary Club of Toronto Centennial Award of $100,000 will be presented to The Sherbourne Health Centre for its Innovative Program, “ The Rotary Club of Toronto Newcomer Clinic”
The Rotary Club of Toronto is breaking down more of the barriers to health experienced by marginalized community members by taking high quality health care right into the heart of St James Town.
The Rotary Club of Toronto Newcomer Clinic, a partnership with Sherbourne Health Centre, will facilitate access to culturally-sensitive preventative and primary care services for residents of this vibrant but impoverished high-rise downtown community.
Many newcomers experience initial challenges in negotiating the Canadian health care system, but recent research also pinpoints an alarming deterioration in health for more established immigrants. Immigrants are shown to suffer disproportionately high rates of infectious diseases such as TB, and key chronic diseases, and urgently need better and earlier connections to the right health care in the right place.
The new clinic will not only improve access to nurses and doctors, but will support health promotion work including diabetes prevention workshops and a flu clinic.
The partnership between Rotary and Sherbourne builds on the success of their iconic mobile Health Bus program that has been operating in Toronto for more than 15 years, and will extend Rotary’s helping hand to many more community members.