Health, Wealth and Happiness: A day that brought the community together

The drumming started that morning, before lunch was laid out. A percussion workshop had pulled a circle of people together, all ages, all backgrounds, finding a shared rhythm in a room that an hour earlier had been quiet. Later, the tables filled with South Asian dishes and Polish bakes. 

80 people came through the door of the Central Family Hub and Quaker Meeting House on 11 April. They laughed through a yoga session and tried Qi Gong for the first time, while others watched. They listened to diabetes specialists talk in plain language and felt comfortable enough to ask questions. It felt less like a health event and more like a day out. 

Saffy Alam, CEO of This Is Me CIC, had one aim: to get better health information into communities that too often miss out on it. Type 2 diabetes hits South Asian and other minority communities harder than most, and the gap between knowing that and doing something about it is wider than it should be. This was a day built to close some of that distance. 

Children gathered around the book-bike the Arts and Culture Community Centre had brought from Hexthorpe. Nearby, Randox offered health checks on the spot. The African-Caribbean Hub Doncaster was there, Worldwide Women Wellbeing, Talking Therapies from the local NHS mental health trust, their health van parked outside. Ten stalls in all. 

Dr Ellouise Simpson, a dietitian specialist in diabetes, was there alongside Dr Shakil Jamali and the Reed Wellbeing Diabetes Prevention Programme. Rather than formal talks, they sat with residents one to one, answering questions, having conversations. 

Well Doncaster and the local Integrated Care Board funded the day and helped bring it together with Saffy and her team. 

People left with more than leaflets. They left with next steps and a sense that their health was something they could actually do something about. 

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