On 16 October, the Wales Cancer Research Centre (WCRC) Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) team participated in the Minority Ethnic Communities (MEC) Health Fair, held at Cardiff City Stadium.
The annual event serves as a platform to connect minority ethnic communities with health services across Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan, and surrounding areas. This year, the Fair’s theme, “Building Healthy Communities: embracing self-care and achieving health equality,” focused on empowering individuals to take control of their health and improving healthcare access.
The WCRC PPI team ran several interactive activities to engage with visitors, aiming to raise awareness of both cancer research and public involvement in healthcare decisions. The activities included an anatomical body labelling game, a cancer awareness quiz, and a poll using pompoms to gather opinions on PPI. These hands-on exercises sparked lots of interesting and meaningful discussions with visitors about health, medical research, and the role of community involvement in shaping healthcare.
PPI Research Partner Bob McAlister, praised the event’s organisation and turnout: “It was a very good day. The organisers did so well in getting so many community members to the event. All of the important involvement conversations were able to take place, alongside people taking advantage of the on-site medical checks. Cancer touches so many families, and that was our prompt to explain what the WCRC does in terms of disease research.”
Lead Lay Research Partner Julie Hepburn, echoed his sentiments, calling it “a great fair and an excellent way to make contact with a diverse range of people interested in finding out more about medical research.”
Mererid Evans, Director of WCRC, highlighted the importance of the PPI team’s involvement: “The PPI team’s ongoing support of the WCRC is vital in helping us stay connected to the communities we serve, ensuring our work remains both relevant and impactful.”
The MEC Health Fair has proved to be an effective way of bridging the gap between healthcare services and minority communities, encouraging self-care, and promoting health equality and the WCRC looks forward to being involved again in future years!