Department of Health and Social Development staff go door to door with kits for community members.
More than 500 mental health kits were recently packaged and delivered to homes in Nain, in an effort to help lift the spirits of people feeling isolated under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Susan Saksagiak, who helped package and distribute the kits — which included board games, journals, pens, crafts and toys — to the community, says they’ve been well received.
The kits came from the Nunatsiavut Department of Health and Social Development, paid for with governmental COVID-19 relief funding. The kits were intended to help people feeling isolated due to being unable to visit and connect with family and friends during the pandemic.
Department staff in Happy Valley-Goose Bay ordered the supplies to fill the kits and shipped them to the staff in Nain for packaging and delivery.
The pandemic has affected everyone in the community in some way or another, Saksagiak said. Some days are harder than others when people are unable to connect with family and friends in the same way they were able to before public health restrictions were put in place, she said, and she hopes the kits will bring people together and give them “a little bit of happiness.”
It’s not just about what’s in the kits, says Saksagiak.
Once the kits were completed, any remaining items were donated to community organizations in Nain, including the women’s shelter, emergency shelter and daycare and after-school programs.