Healthy Start/Départ Santé has made great connections in some remote communities of North Western Saskatchewan.
Three Aboriginal Head Start (Urban and Northern Communities) centres from Green Lake, Beauval and Pinehouse took part in the Healthy Start 5-hour training on November 6th, 2015 in Green Lake, SK. It was a good turn out with 14 participants and an exceptionally hospitable host, Green Lake AHS, who went above and beyond for the guest centres in providing the location and a delicious hot lunch.
The next day, Healthy Start was able to offer another 5-hour training in Buffalo Narrows, SK. It was attended by a variety of early learning centres including: three licenced child care centers from Buffalo Narrows and Pinehouse, one Aboriginal Head Start (Urban and Northern Communities) also from Buffalo Narrows, and two Aboriginal Head Starts (On Reserve) from Meadow Lake Tribal Council. In total, there were 25 participants. Many laughs shared with this group.
In both communities, it was great to see early year educators and teachers getting together and including other professionals in the area to join in on the training. Many participants were invited within the last 2 weeks by word of mouth referrals and amazingly, were able to attend on such short notice even though their centres were over 2 hours away.
Healthy Start looks forwards to hearing feedback from these centres as well as stories on how these centres are using the training information in their daily routines.