Southern Health-Santé Sud works with many immigration and settlement groups in different communities across the whole Region to raise awareness and improve access to health care programs for newcomers from different countries.

Public health nurses in Altona, Morden and Winkler work with Regional Connections, Winkler’s Central Station, and Mennonite Central Committee Family Services – this to help promote health services in the region to newcomers. This includes co-hosting presentations covering a wide variety of topics from How to survive a Manitoba Winter, Postpartum Depression, Menopause, Communicable Diseases, as well as Immunizations to the Services Covered by Manitoba Health and how to access them.

Being Culturally Appropriate

Delivering culturally appropriate health care is an ongoing priority for Southern Health-Santé Sud, which is making efforts to help health care providers better understand and reflect the many different cultures within the Region. “As an example, our print material, such as posters or pamphlets, all portray people from different cultural groups,” says Bev Unger, Regional Manager - Public Health-Healthy Living for Southern Health-Santé Sud. “This creates a sense of belonging and inclusion for people of other cultures.”

A regional policy on Interpreter Services – Language Access also serves to support service provision where language is a barrier.

Immigration Services in Southern Health-Santé Sud

Newcomers to the Southern Health-Santé Sud region can contact the immigration and settlement services for advice on schools, learning English, community and provincial services, job seeking and skills training, integration services, how to obtain a Manitoba Health Card and how to connect to health care resources within the region (see right hand sidebar).