The fourth annual Alley Health Fair opened on the morning of September 15th with a traditional Aboriginal welcome and drumming. Over 45 community booths lined the south side of Hastings Street between the Carnegie Centre and Columbia Street. And despite the rainy weather, well over 600 residents and members of the community took part in the fair, gathered relevant information, and made connections in general. Free beauty facials, massages, acupuncture treatments, and haircuts were available. The lineup for the on-site HIV testing was steadily packed and testing continued well past the fair’s closing time. A hot lunch of rice, beans, and ribs or baked vegetables was served. Give-away bags containing toiletries, socks and a long sleeve shirts were also distributed.
Tapping into the importance of fostering a healthy mind, the DTES Adult Literacy Roundtable was amongst the community booths lining the street. People passing by were invited to ‘exercise their mind’ by playing trivia and sharing their ideas around learning. More than 150 free copies of the reference guide Literacy, Learning, Training and Education Services in the DTES reference guide were also given out (available on this website under 'Resources'). One recipient commented that the guide was “exactly what we need.” Those who enjoyed playing trivia picked questions from various categories, with some preferring to have the question read to them while others chose to read it themselves. People also contributed to the trivia game by writing their own questions. When asked to share how they exercised their mind, a few of the responses included reading the newspaper, doing crosswords, playing sports, volunteering, taking computer courses, and watching movies.
At a booth nearby, the Carnegie Library issued new library cards to nine people. Upon receiving his new card, one man said, “This is great! I haven’t had a library card since I was twelve years old.” The Carnegie Library also waived fines for another thirty people, with the oldest fine dating back to 1993! Many shared stories with Carnegie librarian Emily Sobool, about how their cards had become blocked with fines due to circumstances beyond their control. Emily said that it was great to be able to welcome so many people back to the library for a fresh start. The Carnegie Library also gave away over 200 free books to those who stopped at their booth.
At yet another booth, Lucy Alderson and volunteers from the Carnegie Learning Centre invited people to share or write down on colorful mini-posters what their learning goals were for the year. Their responses covered a wide spectrum of goals including high school upgrading, health, and addiction reduction. People were also encouraged to share what was the smallest action they could take towards their learning goals and whether there was anything the Carnegie Learning Centre could do to support them in this action. The Carnegie Learning Centre also passed out copies of Literacy, Learning, Training and Education Services in the DTES at their table and Lucy reflected that it was an awesome resource to use.
Overall, this year’s Alley Health Fair was deemed a success and members of its steering committee (headed by Beth Davies from Carnegie Library) noted that there were lots of people and interactions at all of the booths. As one committee member observed: “It’s about connecting people. It gets them set for the year. They know what there is and that it’s really close.”
Ashley Machiskinic’s death (September 15, 2010) was remembered and her life honored in a ceremony held at the outset of the fair, led by an Elder from the Aboriginal Front Door. Sadly, the day after this year's fair, Verna Simard fell to her death from a window of the Regent Hotel in what seemed a senseless repetition of Ashley's tragic death.
