Wendy Vuyk is the Director of Community Health at Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC), where she oversees more than 20 community development initiatives serving children, youth, families, seniors, newcomers, and some of the community's most vulnerable members. On October 13, she will join Tarek Hussein, Clinical Pharmacist at Providence Care Hospital, for a panel discussion exploring how social prescribing is redefining what health means as we age. We spoke with her ahead of the event.

Q: How did KCHC get involved in social prescribing?

A: It developed in a really wonderful, organic way. As a global movement around social prescribing began to evolve, we began learning more about the best practices of social prescribing and were excited to take a deeper look at it.  We soon realized that we had been doing this work all along, we simply hadn't called it social prescribing.  Social prescribing intersects with so many aspects of community life, but here at KCHC, we were able to connect it directly with the social determinants of health.

Q: What does that look like in practice?

A: In addition to the community health programs we offer, our primary care services consist of 39 physicians, 15 nurse practitioners and an array of allied health service providers who operate at eight different locations.   Our patients are often more vulnerable and have more complex needs, so our physicians and health care providers are salaried rather than fee-for-service. A patient can come in with eleven or fifteen concerns, where many of us go to doctors' offices with a sign on the wall saying only two issues per visit. What is valuable about the Community Health Centre model is that it sits at the intersection of primary care and the many other programs that address the social determinants of health. When that is done well, people become less reliant on the health care system.

Social prescribing is embedded in practically all of our programs and services. Our physicians can walk a patient down the hall and say, this is our early years program, you can bring your children here and connect with other parents. Or, and this happens very often with our seniors, a patient may be speaking with a physician about feeling lonely or isolated, and the physician can bring them to one of our group rooms and refer them to one of our many seniors’ programs. It is wonderful to see people connecting with supports and services that ultimately improve their health and well-being.

Q: Is it only physicians who make those referrals?

A:  Referrals happen throughout the organization. Part of our goal, and our mandate, is to make our entire community a setting for social prescription. A hairstylist might be working with a customer who mentions they are lonely, or that they have just moved here and don't know anyone. We would love to see the hairstylist say, have you considered going to KCHC, or any other community-based organization for a cooking class, an exercise group or a woodworking shop. That happens in an organic, informal way in community, and we want to encourage it. But when a referral happens through us at the Community Health Centre, we are able to track it through the person's electronic medical record if they wish. It is built right in, and we track the data and the outcomes, and that makes a significant difference for people as we’re able to generate the evidence that shows that social prescribing is of benefit.

Q: Your fellow panelist Tarek Hussein distinguishes between human connection and social prescribing. Where does KCHC's work fit?

A: It is very much a blend, and the two are deeply interconnected. We have many programs here, and our practical assistance program is one that comes to mind, where patients or clients can come to us, and we can provide resources. Those are very tangible referrals, and they are often tracked, followed, and documented. But there are also many informal referrals. The two approaches complement each other well, and that leads to better results all round.

Q: What's driving the growing interest in social prescribing?

A: We watched social prescribing emerge in the UK, and there is now a global movement, with support from the World Health Organization and international conferences. But the pandemic really created momentum, because it highlighted the degree of social isolation across almost all demographics. I personally believe we still haven't recovered from it. We have children and teens who were in school during that time and never really had the opportunity to socialize. We have older adults who retired and then became socially isolated. And we have older parents who were independent, but during the pandemic their adult children began providing support, picking up groceries and helping with daily tasks, and that has never ended. It created a level of dependence that has been very difficult to dial back.

I would also say the in addition to the effects of the pandemic, air conditioning, computers, and subsequently AI are the three things that have really pushed the need for social prescribing forward. Children don't play outside as much as they once did. People stay indoors because of the heat. Dating happens with a device rather than through socializing.  People spend far more time on screens than they do with other humans. When you look at those systemic trends, the need for social connection becomes very clear.

"Social connection is a muscle we stopped exercising, and we need to exercise it again, both informally and in a formal way. My hope is that these two approaches come together and meet in the middle."

Q: What's next for the program?

A: I want to see it embedded in an official way in everything we do. I have been in the community-based sector long enough to know that if we want to expand something, it needs to be evidence informed. In the short term, I hope we can continue to implement this work and put metrics around it, so we can generate the evidence to show that it truly works. My prediction is that with social prescribing, there will be less reliance on primary care, and that people will live longer, be healthier, and be happier. I believe family relationships will improve, and the sense of community will grow stronger. I think people will simply have more friends and enjoy life more.

Q: What do you hope attendees take away from the panel?

A: That social connection is a muscle we stopped exercising, and we need to exercise it again, both informally and in a formal way. My hope is that these two approaches come together and meet in the middle. There is recent evidence that when people share a meal, their blood sugar does not spike as much. I would rather have a meal with friends than by myself, and there are tangible, positive health outcomes from something as simple as that. Every day we are learning more, but at the same time, common sense needs to prevail as we remember that human beings are social beings, for very good reasons.

Event Details:

How Social Prescribing is Redefining What "Health" Means
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
8:30 to 10:00 a.m.
Grandview Room, Sixth Floor, Delta Hotel Kingston Waterfront, 1 Johnson St, Kingston
$50/person includes a buffet breakfast and a $20 charitable tax receipt

Register Here!