EvalByte Documenting the Development of the New Canadians Health Centre (part 2)

EvalByte
Documenting the Development of the New
Canadians Health Centre (Part II)
Written by Anja Dzunic, Augustine Botwe, and Cristian Neves (ECN Research Assistants)
What is the context of the project?
Compromised health at multiple levels is a major challenge for
refugees. Without proper detection and treatment of treatable
conditions upon arrival to Canada, refugees’ health can decline
further, creating preventable costs in the health system. In the
transition to life in Canada, inequalities, language barriers, and
loss of status and social networks profoundly impact refugees’
quality of life. In 2021, the New Canadians Health Centre
(NCHC) was established in Edmonton to provide holistic health
care that refugees need.
The NCHC partnered with the ECN to collaboratively design and
implement a principle-based evaluation of the health centre.
This project is part of the year one evaluation. It aims at
capturing the collaborative process of developing and
implementing the NCHC. This is an update on the July 2022
EvalByte edition.
What is the NCHC?
Key points
THE NEW CANADIANS
HEALTH CENTRE PROVIDES
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH
SERVICES TO REFUGEE
NEWCOMERS
THE PROJECT AIMS AT
DOCUMENTING THE HEALTH
CENTRE'S DEVELOPMENT
AND IMPLEMENTATION
PARTICIPANTS DESCRIBED
PAST EFFORTS, CURRENT
OPERATIONS AND
CHALLENGES, AND FUTURE
VISIONS
FINDINGS WILL INFORM
PRACTICES OF THE HEALTH
CENTRE AND HONOUR THE
WORK OF COMMUNITY
MEMBERS
The New Canadians Health Centre (NCHC) is a culturally
responsive heath care initiative that serves refugee newcomers
during their first two years in Canada. The health centre is
staffed by an interdisciplinary team and linked to a
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comprehensive set of programs and services to
support refugees’ health and well-being in
Edmonton. The NCHC is one of its kind as it follows
a community-based approach to health care, with
the involvement of a lived experience advisory
committee informing and shaping its practices.
What is the project working
on?
The project team has completed data analysis and
is currently in the process of capturing the findings
in a report. The report will be shared with all
relevant stakeholders: the health centre, its
partners, and community members.
It took many years of advocacy, persistence, and
having the right people at the right place to
convince funders and decision-makers of the need
for holistic and culturally responsive health care for
refugees in Edmonton. Partnerships and
relationships built over years facilitated the
establishment process of the NCHC. Findings on
the present operations of the health centre
revealed that its current capacity is at its limit.
More funding and staff are needed considering the
high number of refugees arriving to Edmonton. But
a lack of capacity is only one challenge of the
NCHC. Limited resources, structural barriers, low
awareness of the existence of the health centre,
and the struggle to keep up with daily operations
while staying focused on sustainability were further
challenges discussed by project participants. For
the future, participants were hoping that the NCHC
would become more sustainable, expand to a new
location, and put more emphasis on community
involvement. Research and evaluation were seen
as crucial for the NCHC to achieve its vision.
One limitation of the project was that it did not
reach data saturation. Further interviews would
have been necessary to fill existing gaps and
questions in the findings.
Why is the project
meaningful?
Documenting the NCHC's journey is important for
learning about its innovative vision in addressing
refugee health and incorporating refugee
communities in shaping their own care. It also
honours the work and dedication of many
passionate community members towards a
culturally responsive health system.
The findings of this project will inform the health
centre's management of its operations, and
provide feedback and recommendations to the
management and board. They will support
advocacy initiatives for the NCHC and contribute
to the promotion of community-based health
programs designed for refugee populations.
Resources
U of A Folio: The NCHC aims to help refugees
thrive
Documenting the Development of the NCHC:
Project Codebook
Reference
NCHC Evaluation Working Group. (February 14, 2022). NCHC Evaluation Framework Slides (living document) [Unpublished presentation].
Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the partnership and continuous support provided by the New Canadians Health Centre, the NCHC Evaluation and
Research Committee, the primary investigator of this project, Tehseen Ladha, and co-investigator Rebecca Gokiert.
October 2022

Eval
Byte
What is an EvalByte?
The EvalByte series are snapshot overviews of the
Evaluation Capacity Network's ongoing evaluation
and research projects. Additional resources are also
shared in these EvalBytes.
Why you need to read it.
Our EvalBytes will give you the opportunity to learn
not only about our current projects, but
also about
our partners
collaborative research
evaluation practice
community engagement