Children's health and information fair to help Timmins families

Carolina Chui, who recently moved to Timmins from Toronto, says the Children's Health and Information Fair on Friday provided her with an abundance of information about services available in the city.

“My daughter who’s 18 months old, so she’s delayed in speaking I believe, she doesn’t say anything so I checked out the booth about the speech pathology," said Chui.

"They said put her in some assessment and see how it goes.”

Organizers said it was an opportune time to host the information session during the first week of May since it's Children's Mental Health Week.

“I think a lot of programs have commenced, especially post-pandemic with mental health supports and whatnot," said Gabriella Desmarias-Brunet, program manager of the Children's Services Department at Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board.

"I think that there is actually a lot available in the community -- it’s knowing what is available.”

Other topics included the healthy babies program, autism spectrum disorder, health and nutrition and also fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

“I think we’ve serviced close to 2,000 families last year so that speaks volumes," said Mackenzie Walker, FASD program manager at Cochrane Temiskaming Children's Treatment Centre.

"We’re all doing our very best to reach out to the community and kind of create partnerships with other services and just kind of connect together as service providers.”

For people who missed this opportunity, organizers said a good way to learn more about what's available to help children in Timmins and surrounding area is to contact Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board.