Meet Kristel

Kristel Fleuren-Hunter cares deeply about the health and wellness of fellow Antigonish residents.

That’s why, for the past three years, she has been involved with the Antigonish Town and County Community Health Board.

“There’s just so many things we can do to support people to be healthy and well in the community that’s not just medicine,” says Fleuren-Hunter, chairperson of the health board. “Just supporting peoples’ mental health and physical activity and making sure people are feeling connected to their community and other people.”

The local health board is a volunteer group of the Nova Scotia Health Authority. It gathers ideas and shares information about how to improve and promote health and wellness in the community, while supporting residents through various initiatives.

“We do a lot of projects and support different groups with their projects,” says Fleuren-Hunter, adding poverty reduction and helping organizations attain wellness funding are examples of some of the group’s work.

Fleuren-Hunter is no stranger to helping others. She works as Children’s Services Librarian for the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library and is also branch manager of the People’s Place Antigonish Town and County Library.

“I’m always learning new things,” she says of her career. “I work with really cool people, not just colleagues, but I get to meet a lot of people in the community working with different partners and I feel like I’m always learning something new.”

Fleuren-Hunter grew up in Antigonish. She earned a master’s in history from the University of Waterloo, Ont., and a masters in library information services from UBC in Vancouver. She and husband Kris have two children: daughter Ella, 16, and son Danny, 11.

Following the birth of Ella in B.C., Kristel and Kris chose to return to Antigonish to raise a family.

“It’s home,” she says. “It feels like a relatively safe place to live … and the community’s grown quite a bit, too. It’s become a lot more multicultural now than it used to be and there’s a really vibrant arts community, so lots of different opportunities for different things.”

Fleuren-Hunter also volunteers with the St. Andrews 4-H Club as leader of the building blocks project. Her involvement in the club started with her daughter and a rabbit, she laughs, and went on to include chickens, ducks, and goats.

“I find I really enjoy the animals, so I probably do more to look after them, but they’ve become my hobby too.”

Fleuren-Hunter also has a passion for martial arts. She used to train in kickboxing and Muay Thai, and for the past couple of years has trained in Brazilan jiu-jitsu with a group of other local women.

“It’s a great way to sort of de-stress because you really get out of your own head,” she says. “It’s very technical but it’s a really great group of women I’m working with and I really enjoy them, and it’s just very empowering too; you feel strong and it’s good exercise too.”

(content courtesy of SALTWIRE)