Community Health Advisory Network (CHAN)

Mahamed Amine El Massalhki

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

I was a caregiver for my mother who had chronic respiratory problems and am also an active user of the health services in Mississauga. Currently I work as a Community Health Ambassador (CHA) at Dixie Bloor Neighbourhood Centre where I engage with members of the Mississauga community.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

 As a CHA I have engaged with numerous members of the Mississauga community who come from diverse backgrounds to provide education, information and promote awareness around health topics such as COVID-19 vaccination. Through this experience I have learned a lot about the challenges many community members face and would like to use CHAN as an opportunity to raise awareness on these challenges and give a voice to these community members.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

Prior to coming to Canada, I was a dentist for over 25 years! I also have a fun cat who doesn’t like me very much.

Isra Amsdr

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system? I identify as a patient myself and have been for a significant portion of my two decades on earth. I was born into and continue to rely on Mississauga’s health services. Most of my inpatient stays have also been based out of Mississauga hospitals.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

There is a dramatic gap in medicine that perpetuates inequality based on age. A growing surplus of research has recurrently backed up the discrepancies experienced by young patients and the increasing detrimental health outcomes young patients face because of age biases. As a young patient who has encountered significantly worsened health because of the age biases imposed onto me by medical professionals– I still deal with the ripple effect brought on by that to this day, and probably will for a very long time. However, I can’t undo the experiences that have resulted in these repercussions, but I can use my story in the hopes that any other young patients that come after me have a better interaction with our health care system.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I own over 100 pairs of funky socks (last time I counted!!). It has practically become a quirk of my personality to always have an interesting pair of socks on.

Sadia Baig

My name is Sadia, and I was born and raised in Mississauga. I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) when I was 14 years old. Growing up I was a very active child, always outdoors playing and perfectly healthy with no signs or symptoms or family history of CKD. Within months I was put on in-centre hemodialysis three times a week in the evenings after school. I did this treatment for 1.5 years and was able to receive a deceased kidney donor transplant at 16 years old. Unfortunately, that kidney failed in 2003 and I was placed back on in-centre hemodialysis in Toronto while attending Ryerson University while completing my Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. After 10 years of being on dialysis, I received a call at 2 a.m. for my second kidney transplant. Sadly, that kidney was not a perfect match, with multiple kidney rejections over 2.5 years. That kidney failed in 2015 and since then I have been back on in-centre hemodialysis while also working full time supporting patients, caregivers and living donors navigate their kidney journey from the very beginning of their diagnoses, through dialysis and while living with a kidney transplant/living donation. I find it extremely rewarding with supporting my peers as a long-time professional patient providing education with understanding, accepting, and overall knowing that there is hope for a future living with CKD and that they are not alone through this lifelong journey. I am currently actively looking for a living donor to receive my third kidney transplantation.

Joy Bonas

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

My personal experience with the health care system has been fairly positive with the usual bumps along the way. However, the same cannot be said for family members and friends. The following have proven very problematic for them: long wait times, poor communication, cost and much more.

 What motivated you to join the CHAN? I am a member of the Advisory Committee of East Mississauga Community Health Centre (EMCHC) a branch of LAMP. EMCHC provides services and programs to isolated seniors, racialized individuals and communities, people living in poverty, immigrants, and refugees, LGBTT1QQ2S+ individuals and communities. CHAN will provide a platform for me to bring attention to the challenges and needs of this community and other communities with similar challenges. My motivation is to speak for people who cannot speak for themselves so that they can have access to health resources in the community. It is also an opportunity to work with like-minded people who have similar motivation to provide guidance in creating an inclusive and equitable and an improved health care system especially for the “least among us.”

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I enjoy gardening. Sometimes I wonder if it is the gardening or the puttering around and digging up the soil that creates joy.

Calvin Chow

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

I’ve lived in Mississauga for over 15 years now. My partner as well as our two kids were all born at Trillium Queensway. Those were very positive experiences. After our first child was born, that’s when we looked for a family doctor and realized the difficulty in finding a clinic that was willing to take on new patients. We live with our in-laws who are a bit older now and have had several procedures done from removing a cancerous tumor and various eye surgeries. I have an engineering background, an MBA as well as a Masters in Data Science.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

As our kids are getting a bit older, I’m able to find a bit more time and want to find opportunities to contribute back to the community. I’m on the board for a local skate club – Port Credit Skating Club. However, it was my experiences visiting the ER as COVID that made me really interested in finding out more on how we can improve our health care system. From seeing the long lines at the ER to hearing doctors and nurses complain about the system and the way some patients treat them, I became really concerned with the state of our health care system. Fortunately, as I searched online, I came across information about CHAN and wanted to join.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

The fun fact about me is that my sister, my daughter, and myself all share the same birthday!

Kathy Dutchak

As a Mississauga resident within the Mississauga (Peel) Halton Region I have had to be a caregiver for both my parents (now deceased) and currently a caregiver and provider for my brother (69 yrs.) who is handicap (deaf/aphasia/limited vision) who now resides with me and my family. I have also been a patient several times and have encountered gaps in transitions while in hospital as well as hospital to home and service care provider. My experience with the local health care system involved my brother having to be hospitalized for a double pulmonary aneurism. Experiencing some shortfalls within the system specifically discharge processes, transferring of important information from the hospital, caregiver provider to establishing home care seemed broken or distorted. It was evident that my voice needed to be added to the “PFAC” group. My passion has and always will be to help people (young & old) who experience problems or just need proper navigation/direction within the health care system. I know I don’t have all the answers, but I have the opportunity to share my experiences, concerns, opinions and quite possibly solutions regarding the care and support within our communities (regions).

John McKenna

Do you identify as a someone with personal experience using health care services? A caregiver for a family member or friend? And/Or live in Mississauga or use health and/or social services in Mississauga?

All the above. In 2015 I was brought into the ED with two broken legs. Since then, I have lost my mother to COPD, father with dementia, nephew due to a fentanyl overdoes, niece as a result of illicit drug use, as well as welcoming a great-niece and great-nephews, all in Mississauga.

What motivated you to join the Community Health Advisory Network?

There are ways to make our community’s health system better for all and I would like to be a part of making that happen.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

 After completing high school and working to save money, I backpacked through many countries from New Zealand and India to Norway and Ireland.

Patrick Padja

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

I identify myself as someone who is using health services in Mississauga.

What motivated you to join the CHAN? I am currently working as a Francophone Health Promoter with Wellfort Community Health Services where I am responsible for Health Promotion Programs for seniors. I am a member of several working groups for the development of French language Health services such as the ‘Table de concertation de Peel, Groupe d’action pour les services de sante en francais de Peel’ I am also member of the Board of Director of French Language Health services Planning Entity. This organization is making recommendations to Ontario Health for a better care management of French speaking population. I joined CHAN for the opportunity of representing the voice of the francophone community.

What is a fun fact about yourself? As fun fact about me, I am a tennis player who is trying to pass his passion to his kids.

Ron Pruessen

How would you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system? I have lived in Mississauga for 47 years and have had extensive experience with both health care and social services here. This experience ranges from regular involvement for personal health needs to dealing with the health needs of my wife and three children – with both family physicians and specialists as well as the Trillium Health Partners hospitals (for ER services, tests, procedures, and surgeries [e.g., my youngest daughter’s birth and my wife’s hip replacement]). Because one of my daughters has intellectual and developmental disabilities, I have also had some forty years of experience with social services — particularly those linked to the Ministry of Children’s, Community, and Social Services.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

 There are both immediate and more deeply rooted factors here: On one hand, I share the serious concerns of many citizens with the severe strains so strikingly evident in the health care system – strains experienced well before the COVID pandemic, but now increasingly intensified. The Community Health Advisory Network (CHAN) promises to provide a way of learning more about current problems as well as a means (modest though it may be) of contributing to transparent and consultative efforts to address them.

 On the other hand, my professional career as a teacher involved regular attention to both researching and sharing analysis of social problems involving health care, citizenship, and personal opportunities as affected by race, gender, sexuality, and “disabilities.” My academic interest in such matters is strongly reinforced by my family’s lived experience with disability issues and decades of advocacy efforts (e.g., as chair of the government-created Ontario Developmental Services Housing Task Force from 2014-2018). CHAN, again, should offer a way to continue investigating social challenges and participating in efforts to conceptualize improvement opportunities.

Heather Relf

Heather is a self-employed Accounting Technician with a strong background in administration and a passion to serve her community. She brings her professional skills and volunteer experience to a host of community organizations and initiatives, promoting fiscal responsibility and fairness, championing awareness of community issues and being a voice for her community. Heather is a member of the CHAN and the Mayor of Mississauga’s Black Caucus. She was appointed to both the Mississauga Library Board and the Mississauga Traffic Safety Council, where she championed pedestrian safety in the Peel District and Dufferin-Peel Catholic School system. She is a former President and Treasurer of the Mississauga Girls Hockey League, serving for 11 years with a focus on increasing access to hockey for the Black community and increasing overall diversity in the sport. Heather received the Dr. Arthur Wood Award for her dedication and work with the Mississauga Traffic Safety Council. She grew up in Mississauga and still calls the community home, with her husband and two daughters.

How do you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

I identify as a primary caregiver to my aging parents.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

Improve health connections to support people with aging parents.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I quilt, sew and make jam and pickles or as my girlfriends refer to them as pioneer skills.

Melissa Stevenson

Melissa is Anishnaabe-Cree kwe from Peguis First Nation in Northern Manitoba. She is bear clan and a mom to three amazing little boys who are her world. All roles she feels very much defines who she is and who she aims to be. She is a registered nurse who has worked for the entirety of her career within the urban Indigenous community here in Toronto. Melissa’s passion for her work lies in advocating for better access to traditional healing services to improve our overall health and wellbeing of our community. She feels spiritual healing is vital in helping us understand how to care for our physical health. It is through our teachings and ceremonies that we are reminded of our sacredness, and we can live Mino Bimaadiziwin or that good life.

How do you describe your experience with the Mississauga health care system?

I am someone with personal experience and as a caregiver. I have three small children who I support. I live in Mississauga with my family.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

To support the Indigenous voice within this region- as an Indigenous person who lives in the region- I have not seen many services that are supportive of the Indigenous community- having spent my entire career working with the urban Indigenous community in the Toronto area- I figure it was time to ask questions in my own back yard.

What is a fun fact about yourself? Though I was born in Winnipeg- I grew up in many parts of Canada- from living in the Northwest Territories to Northern Ontario to spending most of my childhood/youth in Newfoundland. Each of these lands holds such a special place in my heart and are all considered home.

Craig Thorton

I love robots. It’s that love that sparked a career in robotics and automation that began at Spar Aerospace (now MDA Space), where I worked on a variety of programs including the “Canadarm” and a lead role on Dextre, the two-armed maintenance robot aboard the International Space Station. Later, I assumed various leadership roles, including Director of Engineering and Manufacturing, and Vice President of Robotics and Space Operations. Later in my career, I became an equity partner and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at CIMTEK Automation Systems, helping to take the company from startup to a mature and thriving global organization. Before my retirement in 2020, I led technology businesses ATS in Cambridge, Ontario and the Digital Technologies Group at Hatch Ltd. In Mississauga.

Do you identify as someone with personal experience using healthcare services?

I live in Mississauga and act as a primary caregiver for my 97-year-old mom who is living with dementia. I have been responsible for finding, organizing and acquiring the support and healthcare services to allow her to live as independently as possible, in her own home, with dignity and care.

What motivated you to join the Community Health Advisory Network?

It is the experience with my mom that has motivated me to find ways to get involved in planning and supporting the future directions of eldercare within the province of Ontario. To that end, I became a Board Member at Peel Senior Link (PSL), a not-for-profit organization focused on the provision of in-home eldercare services across Peel Region. Their goal is simple: to keep our elders in their homes and living with dignity for as long as possible. From these combined experiences, I have gained valuable insights into both the strengths and shortcomings of available services and am hoping that I can apply my learnings to help create positive change in healthcare in Mississauga.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

When I’m not supporting PSL or the Mississauga CHAN, I am a very passionate cross-country mountain biker. You can typically find me shredding trails across Ontario.

Elise Robertson

I bring both personal and caregiver experience with the healthcare system in Mississauga, having navigated hospital care, home healthcare support services, cancer treatments, and mental health and addictions programs for my parents and children. Supporting loved ones through the transition from hospital to home, treatment care and into outpatient care has shown me firsthand some of the barriers people can face in accessing the right services, and the importance of equity, inclusivity, and clear navigation.

My professional journey has also spanned across the continuum of care — beginning in pediatrics at a rehabilitation hospital, then moving into complex acute care, long-term care, palliative, and community services. This path has given me a unique perspective of the healthcare journey from birth through end of life, including the cultural and diverse considerations that shape it.

I was motivated to join the Community Health Advisory Network because I want to help create meaningful change in how services are designed and delivered. As a parent of two young children, I want to take a proactive role in shaping systems so that, as they grow and may one day need support, they will experience a health system that is accessible, equitable, and designed for smooth transitions of care. I am passionate about breaking down visible and invisible barriers, ensuring programs are accessible for all, and bringing the community together to learn from and support one another. I believe a listening ear and thoughtful action can go a long way in driving change.

Fun fact: I enjoy being outdoors, discovering new cuisines, and visiting a good fall fair.

Maria  Wallis

How do you describe your experience with the Mississauga healthcare system?

I have lived in Mississauga since 2010 (for 25 years now). I have experience with the health care system accessing primary care, mental health services for my family, and experiencing my mother’s palliative care journey.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

With over 15 years of community engagement in the immigrant and refugee sector and a PhD in Sociology, trained as a Registered Social Worker with further training in Mental Health counselling/ Psychotherapy, I am eager to contribute to both identify the gaps and addressing them as we strive to make all health care services equitable and accessible. It is important our healthcare systems and workplaces reflect our communities.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I worked as a Faculty member/ professor at York and other Universities, adopted my daughter as a single parent from an orphanage in India, and lived for a couple of years in Yellowknife and Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.

Omer Choudhry

How do you describe your experience with the Mississauga healthcare system?

My grandparents are immigrants from Pakistan who have lived in Mississauga for many years, and I grew up very close to them. Through their experiences with the local healthcare system, I have gained a personal understanding of the opportunities and challenges in accessing care as an immigrant family.

What motivated you to join the CHAN?

I hold a Master’s in Biomedical Innovation, where I worked with clinicians, engineers, and policymakers to identify unmet clinical needs and support innovation through advising and founding start-ups. I was motivated to join CHAN because I believe community voices are essential to shaping a healthcare system that is equitable, innovative, and responsive. I want to bring both my professional background and lived family experiences to help improve health outcomes in Mississauga.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I love poetry and try to present a few poems each year at select community events. It is one of my favorite ways to connect with people and share stories.

Mahamed Amine El Massalhki

Roula is an experienced community advocate who has worked extensively in the newcomer and mental health sectors. She served as a Trauma and Settlement Counselor until 2019, supporting individuals and families through the challenges of migration, trauma recovery, and community integration. From 2019 to 2021, she continued her work as a Settlement Counselor, providing essential guidance and support to newcomers as they adapted to life in Canada.

Since 2021, she has taken on the role of Community Health Ambassador, beginning with COVID-19 response initiatives and expanding her focus to post-pandemic recovery and mental health education. In this role, she has built strong collaborations with community partners and engaged directly with vulnerable populations across Mississauga West and East. She has developed and delivered numerous presentations and workshops on mental health, stigma reduction, self-care, and related topics—ensuring culturally responsive and accessible outreach.

In addition to her frontline work, she co-founded a kitchen in 2017 for newcomer women from war-affected regions, offering a safe and empowering space for healing, cultural exchange, and connection. She also coordinated the Newcomers Kitchen project in 2015–2016, promoting community integration through shared food and storytelling.

Her approach is grounded in trauma-informed care, cultural humility, and a deep commitment to equity and community wellness.