H1N1 awareness amongst Toronto’s ethnic community

October 23, 2009

Although Viola Wun is aware that contracting H1N1 “is very dangerous to the body,” she has no plans to take the vaccine that combats the pandemic flu virus.

“I will not take the shot,” she said, speaking in Cantonese over the phone. “I have never taken any [flu shots] before.”

Wun, a vibrant 61-year-old woman, said she does not need the vaccine because she maintains a healthy and active lifestyle. As an avid ballroom dance enthusiast, Wun takes weekly classes at Toronto’s St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre for exercise and personal enjoyment. Wun is also a stickler for hygiene, washing her hands frequently. “I take care of myself,” she said.

But getting the vaccine may be the most effective means of curbing the spread of H1N1, according to Canada’s chief public health officer. In a press release Wednesday, Dr. David Butler-Jones encouraged “all Canadians” to get the flu shot when it becomes available in their provinces and territories.

Following the announcement that Health Canada had approved H1N1 vaccines for use in the country, the federal government is preparing to roll out its largest-ever nation-wide immunization campaign.

In addition to launching an H1N1 preparedness guide last week, the Public Health Agency of Canada will broadcast radio ads and mail information pamphlets about flu symptoms to households across the country. But at a parliamentary health committee meeting Wednesday evening, the agency’s director general of communications, Elaine Chatigny, admits the agency has “primarily focused on making all of [its] information bilingual—English and French.”

Tim Uppal, a Conservative MP who attended the meeting, brought up the question of “[an H1N1] plan for new Canadians” who speak neither of Canada’s two official languages.

“I think definitely there are some cultural [and language] barriers,” he said. “So there needs to be a way for [people from ethnic communities] to get the same information that everybody else is getting because it’s information that’s going to give [them] confidence in this vaccine, [and] gets [them] washing their hands and sneezing into their sleeves.”

In response, Chatigny said it is up to the municipal and provincial governments to ensure ethnic groups are getting access to H1N1 information, as the federal government is “not on the ground with these communities.” Local governments, she said, “know where their communities are at [and] how they like to receive information, so it’s much more tailored and much more pertinent.”

She said the agency ensures “a coherency of messages by working collaboratively with provinces and territories,” citing Ontario and British Columbia as examples of places that “have translated virtually all of their social marketing products in multiple languages.”

Karen Sun, executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council’s Toronto Chapter, agrees that reaching out to ethnic communities on a local level is effective. On Tuesday, she attended an H1N1 pandemic planning session held by Toronto Public Health representatives to “discuss H1N1 as it relates to ethno-racial communities” and to collaborate with these groups to “ensure they receive appropriate information and services,” the invitation said.

Sun said the City of Toronto will be translating all of its H1N1 materials into 18 languages as well as reaching out to ethnic media in the coming days. The city will also be implementing a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy at upcoming vaccination clinics so that “non-status people [who do not have health cards] will not have any fear of coming out and getting vaccinated.”

Although Sun said she believes Toronto Public Health “is doing a really good job” she added that the H1N1 information targeted towards ethnic communities is not as timely as it could have been, but ascribes the delays to the municipal strike that occurred in Toronto this past summer.

Sun also emphasized that there is uncertainty in both the ethnic and larger communities surrounding the nature, necessity and accessibility of the vaccine: “There’s a lot of confusion about ‘Should you take the vaccine? Should you not take the vaccine? Where do you get the vaccine? Is the vaccine going to give you the flu?’” she said. “As far as how that message is getting out into the public, we’ll have to see how that translates in a week or two.”

As a member of Toronto’s ethnic Chinese community, Viola Wun said she feels the government is “providing a good amount of information about H1N1” by placing ads in local Chinese media outlets. But she added that she receives most of her information from news coverage of the virus.

Sun agrees that the Chinese community “tends to get a lot of their information from Chinese media…because it’s very well developed in Canada and in Toronto in particular.” She said she “strongly encourages” the city to talk to media because “they can get a lot more detailed information out [to ethnic communities] by getting stories in the news instead of just ads.”

In the meantime, Wun is taking her own precautions. “If I know somebody is sick, I try not to come into contact with them.” She laughs, “Or I just tell them to stay home.”