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Media Release (May 4, 2020)
PROTECH launches multilingual online resource to address COVID-19 mental health and social impact on Chinese Canadians
TORONTO (May 4, 2020) – PROTECH (Pandemic Rapid-response Optimization to Enhance Community-Resilience and Health), a rapid response community-based action project supported by the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), launches its multi-lingual (English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese) online resource hub www.projectprotech.ca. The hub provides timely and credible information on COVID-19 and practical coping strategies, as well as unique live-chat support by text or by voice call.
PROTECH also announces PACER, an upcoming online training to enhance mental health resilience for health service providers and directly affected community members, which will be launched later in May.
As the first racialized groups hit by the pandemic, the Chinese Canadians and diasporic communities have experienced increased stigma and racism, further intensifying the vast mental health, economic and social impacts shared by the broader Canadian communities. A third key component of PROTECH involves active collaboration efforts with community partners to mobilize and coordinate needed resources, services and policy changes, to address stigma and racism, and to respond to unmet and emerging needs of the community.
Led by Prof. Josephine P. Wong and Prof. Mandana Vahabi (Ryerson University); Dr. Alan Li (Regent Park Community Health Centre); and Dr. Kenneth P. Fung (University Health Network), PROTECH uses an integrative approach to generate a rapid response to reduce the negative psychosocial and mental health impacts of COVID-19 on Chinese Canadian communities and affected service providers in the Greater Toronto Area.
“During the SARS epidemic, many members of our team witnessed the tremendous human suffering related to trauma and loss, stigma and discrimination, but we were also inspired by the power of communities joining force to rise up to the challenges. PROTECH builds on the important lessons learnt from SARS so we can mobilize an effective community response to address stigma and racism and promote our collective resilience,” says Professor Josephine P. Wong, lead researcher on the PROTECH team.
“There is an overwhelming amount of rapidly changing, often confusing and contradictory information on the pandemic. The PROTECH Info Hub is unique in the way it will curate and streamline the most updated and locally relevant information on different dimensions of health for our target communities and provide people with practical tools and information on supportive resources to address their needs,” says Professor Mandana Vahabi, who leads the Info Hub component of PROTECH.
Dr. Kenneth Fung, a psychiatrist at the University Health Network, who is leading the mental health component of PROTECH, emphasizes, “In the face of massive uncertainty, disruptions, and losses from the current COVID-19 crisis, we experience a wide range of emotional challenges, from anxiety to sadness to anger and blame. Caring for the mental health and wellbeing of each of us is paramount. Our live-chat support and PACER resilience training aim to create a space for meaningful connections and emotional support to empower all of us on our healing journey together.”
“COVID-19 has already had a much more devastating impact than SARS, in losses of lives, in the economy, and in dividing communities and inciting racism and hate. It has exposed the horrible impact of health inequities on our communities’ most vulnerable and highlighted the urgent need for our communities to come together to fight against stigma and racism. To “protect” the health of our communities, we must also address the underlying social injustices that hurt us all,” says Dr. Alan Li, who leads the PROTECH community mobilization arm that collaborates with many community partners.
Bonnie Wong, executive director of the Hong Fook Mental Health Association, shares insights on how they adapt mental health services and collaborate with PROTECH to address the mental health needs of the Asian Canadian communities.
Kate Shao, board member of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Toronto Chapter, speaks on our collaborative efforts to advance social justice, including an online racism reporting tool to track incidents of discrimination related to COVID-19.
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Backgrounder of Project Protech in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and additional Press materials (such as our Live Chat and PACER training promotion) can be downloaded from www.projectprotech.ca/press-materials
