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9 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,D ecem ber 9,2021 w aterloochronicle.ca ThaT ringing in your ears isn'T The sound of ChrisTmas bells. you may be suffering from TinniTus Serenity Hearing has developed a Tinnitus Assessment Protocol which incorporates Subjective Tinnitus Scales; Audiometric Testing, and patient interviews. A treatment plan is established on the basis of the individual test results and specific goals of the patient. If you suffer from annoying, troublesome ringing or buzzing in your ears, call our clinic and ask for a comprehensive tinnitus assessment. we Can help! same owner, one name, 7 great locations! formerly Auburn & Mountain Hearing Centres • 1144Wilson St.W. Unit D203,Ancaster.......... 289-203-3195 • 350 Conestoga Blvd. Unit B3, Cambridge....... 888-737-9976 • 370Winston Road, Grimsby ............................ 289-206-5364 • 550 Fennell Ave. E. Unit 16B, Hamilton ........... 289-768-6167 • 723 Rymal Rd.W. Unit 500, Hamilton............. 289-768-8971 • 168 Barton St. Unit 3, Stoney Creek................ 289-203-3256 • 570 University Ave. E. Unit 905,Waterloo....... 888-907-1436open evenings and saturdays by appt Certified Lyric provider • www.serenityhearing.ca towards recovery C L I N I C S Scan here for more informationCall today 1-877-588-2043. | towardsrecovery.com You can get the help you need right now. Call us today or visit our website to learn more about our addiction treatment programs. You can also walk into any Towards Recovery Clinics across Ontario to get started right away. We are open 365 days a year, and our CARE team is ready to help you. "Thanks to the CARE team, I was given the unconditional support I needed to stop using opioids. They made me feel that I had value. That I wasworth the effort." Jes, 40 years old, Ottawa/Brockville At 15, a knee injury started me on opiates. By 18, I was getting them on the street. By my early 20's, I was living on the street. I got Hepatitis C. I had trouble with the law. I tried rehab but it didn't work. At 36, I found safe, non-judgmental environment of support and caring. I'm 4 years in the program. With the help of doctors, and CARE team, I have a whole new life. I have a job. I've reconnected with mymom. It's never too late. They will be there for you. You're worth the effort. Take Back Control Of Your Life. Choose Recovery. In addition to the hous- ing providers, employment partnerships, clothing do- nations and boot drives that help refugees adjust to life in Canada when they first arrive, there are also things like Chromebooks made possible through communi- ty donations. Twenty families and in- dividuals received one in November. Reception House, which runs the fed- eral Resettlement Assis- tance Program for govern- ment-sponsored refugees, hopes to one day provide a Chromebook or similar de- vice to every new family. The organization's digi- tal engagement project be- gan prior to Canada's com- mitment earlier this year to settle 40,000 Afghan nation- als. Many have come here with little or no digital liter- acy and need to learn En- glish. With most service pro- viders now virtual, the de- vices are vital for living, said Lynne Griffiths-Ful- ton, interim CEO at Recep- tion House. "One of our main dona- tion drives is to raise sup- port to ensure everybody has access to what is now a basic need," she said. Government-funded systems in place for refu- gees provide a lot, but they don't provide everything, said Heather Montgomery, director of fundraising and communications. That was the main takea- way from a virtual neigh- bourhood summit focusing on refugee settlement, host- ed by the City of Waterloo last Thursday, Dec. 2, which provided information on various ways people in the community can help. "As much as we're seek- ing to assist newcomers in accessing services, we're al- so seeking to build stronger partnerships within our community to strengthen capacity," said Aracy Selva- kumar, manager of settle- ment and integration pro- grams. According to recent re- ports, new refugees to Wa- terloo Region this fall felt abandoned by the place that's supposed to be there to provide them with essen- tials such as food and win- ter clothing when they first arrive. But being directly in- volved with the federal gov- ernment's initiative to set- tle Afghan nationals since mid-August means Recep- tion House has already re- ceived about 200 Afghan refugees in addition to the regular arrivals it would see in a given year - typical- ly about 300 people, from 14 countries - according to Emma Jennings, manager of resettlement and hous- ing. The majority of Afghan refugees so far have wanted to remain in Ontario, Jen- nings said. "Our centre has received a disproportionately high number of Afghan nation- als due to our proximity to the GTA," she noted. "In Au- gust, September and Octo- ber, volumes were well over what staff anticipated and what we were staffed to re- ceive." While recent clothing and boot drives have helped, "the story here is that this is a marathon of support, not a sprint," she said. Jennings said Recep- tion House has had to deal with numerous processing delays and is providing temporary accommodation at five locations. At this time, 60 per cent of new Afghan refugees have been housed with per- manent accommodation, something Griffiths-Fulton finds remarkable given the overall struggle to find af- fordable housing these days. Local landlords and homeowners are being asked to consider providing accommodation for refugee families, if possible. "A commitment to reset- tling 40,000 Afghans to Can- ada is pretty similar to when the Syrian resettle- ment initiative happened in 2015-16," according to Tara Bedard, executive director of the Waterloo Region Im- migration Partnership. "It was ultimately around 1,800 Syrians who arrived in our community, so my best guess right now is we can anticipate rough- ly similar numbers eventu- ally arriving from Afghani- stan, but that isn't for cer- tain." The Immigration Part- nership provides a compre- hensive list of ways people can consider helping through donations and pri- vate sponsorship on its website. Volunteers with various organizations interact with newcomers by simply play- ing the role of a mentor or friend during the early stages of resettlement. "We need to see this as community building, not just resettlement or settle- ment," said Griffiths-Ful- ton, adding that society reaps the reward of being accommodating when refu- gees become productive members. With changes to take away barriers in the sys- tem, Griffiths-Fulton be- lieves we can still accom- modate many more. "We're a very wealthy so- ciety. This is not a drain per se, it's just that our systems need to be more accommo- dating and expand." STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The Chronicle tuned into a neighbour- hood summit about refugee resettlement hosted by the City of Waterloo to learn about the ways the commu- nity can help. GOVERNMENT-FUNDED SYSTEMS PROVIDE A LOT BUT NOT EVERYTHING, SAYS DIRECTOR BILL JACKSON bjackson@torstar.ca NEWS