Jamal Al-Karim Mosque in Gloucester hosted a community health outreach event earlier this month (13 September), to which it welcomed 50 community members.
The event brought together a diverse mix of nationalities and languages, with families, children, and people attending the mosque around prayer times.
This free, drop-in event provided an opportunity for members of the community to meet some of our NHS outreach teams, speak to health professionals, get a free health and blood pressure check, and find out about the local NHS services available.
Bilal Lala, Non-Executive Director for Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) NHS Foundation Trust, was on hand to support our outreach teams and engage in valuable conversations with community members. He was also among the 45 visitors who took up the offer of a free health check.
“This event provided an important opportunity to build trust, foster relationships, and explore future engagement with that community,” he said.
“We were encouraged to see strong participation from women, and to connect more with mosque leaders and communities not often reached through other spaces, such as the Friendship Café.”
Dominika Lipska-Rosecka, Service Development Manager from the GHC Partnership team, added: “One of the key insights from the day was the language barrier faced by Black Muslim communities from that area, and the cultural aspect of creating welcoming health outreach space for women in the mosque.
“We are grateful to everyone who took part; particularly the teams who joined us for the first time and offered the free health checks. This was a good step toward strengthening links with local communities and ensuring more people feel confident engaging with NHS services.”
