The Peel Project is dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of residents in Hull with an emphasis on BAME communities. The Outdoor Community Health Fair was part of its innovative strategy to improve lives and reduce health inequalities by bringing support services directly into one of the most socio economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse areas of Hull.
The event has been successful in breaking down barriers led to increased awareness and trust amongst residents. It has been seen as insightful and powerful and emphasised the need for services to perform community outreach and collaborations with community-based organisations to tackle health inequalities and improve their services.
A key achievement was the ethnic diversity, unity and the number of people from ‘hard to reach’ communities that engaged at the event. This was possible as The Peel Project enlisted the support of leaders and faith institutes to promote the event and involved them. It was also important to offer recreational activities and have a family and children theme, by making the event fun and offering free biryani it all led to increased satisfaction, happiness and to a memorable occasion.
The Peel Project would like to thank Forum, Hull City Council and Hull & East Yorkshire Mind for entrusting and supporting them to pilot this event. They would also like to give special recognition to the dedicated volunteers, young people, event staff and all the services that made sure their stalls were interactive and fun.
The Peel Project are keen to hold this event annually and request health services and local authorities to start planning for next years event, with a request to explore performing health checks on the day. Through conversations and advance planning we can push the boundaries in our quest to improve lives and reduce health inequalities.
Read the report here.
