Rationale for CTD

"We find at least four key ingredients that are essential to success in preventing chronic diseases and achieving health equity. The first ingredient is a local investment in communities... A second key ingredient is providing a venue for local communities to learn about effective strategies, particularly those related to policy and environmental and systems changes.. The third ingredient is mobilizing networks for change... Finally, communities need tools to assist them as they mobilize to achieve health equity and prevent chronic diseases." ¹

Community Engagement as Health Promotion

CTD is a community engagement model to build capacity for chronic disease prevention. It builds a community's capacity - through the sharing of knowledge, best practices, and perspectives - to address issues no one sector can achieve on its own. ²

Community engagement is a fundamental health promotion strategy and CTD is grounded in the values and features of health promotion. It addresses social, economic, and environmental causes of health and wellness; it focuses on assets and strengths of individuals and communities; and it applies participatory approaches that build the capacity of individuals and communities to address their health concerns. CTD creates the conditions for collaboration and fosters the following health promotion actions: strengthen community actions, reorient health services, create supportive environments, and build healthy public policy ³ Tamarack, an Ontario-based institute for community engagement, concluded from a literature review that community engagement:

• Informs policy-making at the local level
• Improves the targeting and effectiveness of services
• Helps to measure how agencies and partnerships are performing
• Helps to build community ownership⁶

One way to strengthen community engagement is to strengthen networks. The importance of supporting networks is clearly stated by Plastrik and Taylor: "Given the complexity and enormity of social problems, the unrelenting pressure to reduce the cost of creating and implementing solutions, and the recent proliferation of small nonprofit organizations, networks offer a way to weave together or create capacities that get better leverage, performance, and results.⁷

For more information, contact the Prevent Stroke team at preventstroke@healthnexus.ca

Where have we been:

1. Southwestern Ontario Stroke Network Grey Bruce (Owen Sound)
2. Northwestern Ontario Stroke Network (Thunder Bay)
3. Southwestern Ontario Stroke Network Windsor-Essex (Windsor)
4. Southwestern Ontario Stroke Network Chatham-Kent (Chatham)
5. Southeastern Ontario Stroke Network Hastings-Prince Edward (Belleville)
6. Southwestern Ontario Stroke Network Huron-Perth (Stratford)
7. West GTA Stroke Network (Peel-Mississauga)
8. Northeastern Ontario Stroke Network (Sudbury, North Bay and Sturgeon Falls)
9. Toronto West Stroke Network (Toronto)
10. South East Toronto Stroke Network (Toronto)
11. Southeastern Ontario Stroke Network (Kingston)
12. Southeastern Ontario (Belleville)
13. Southeastern Ontario (Brockville)
14. Toronto West Stroke Network (Toronto)
15. West GTA Stroke Network (Peel)

¹Giles,W. H., Holmes-Chavez, A., & Collins, J. L. (2009). Cultivating healthy communities: The CDC perspective. Health Promotion Practice, 10: 86S-87S. ²http://tamarackcommunity.ca/g3s1.html ³Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion ⁴http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/home/benefitsce.pdf ⁵Plastrik, P. & Taylor, M. (2006). Net Gains: A Handbook for Network Builders Seeking Social Change.