Medhat Mahdy, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Toronto and President of YMCA Ontario was a guest speaker at an IDI GTA luncheon on community health. Mr. Mahdy brought a deep understanding of the social determinants of health, and a conviction that we owe every one of our kids the opportunity to grow stronger every day in spirit, mind, and body. Medhat Mahdy spoke on the YMCA’s initiative “Strong Start, Great Future” and outlined how the YMCA had been seeing a worrying trend of declining health in youth. The Strong Start, Great Future campaign is based on studies that have shown community contributes to the well-being and health of youths and takes the social determinants of health into account. He calls an investment in health programs as “exceptional investment,” believing that it should not be seen in terms of cost alone.
