A tasty conference on access to French-language health services
On March 18th, over 50 health and social service managers and professionals attended Taste the French Difference—a bilingual conference and networking opportunity organized by the Winning Strategies for Serving Francophones project team.
"The goal of the event was to celebrate a project milestone—its second anniversary—as well as the Mois de la Francophonie, while demonstrating the importance of the active offer of French-language services in healthcare and community services. We also wanted to summon up how simple and effective the implementation of the winning strategies can be for an organization, while making all the difference for Francophones," says Josée Blackburn, director of the Kids Come First Health Team. Nine Ontario Health Teams (OHT) are partners in the Winning Strategies project.
Stéphanie Bonenfant is Coordinator of francophone Mental Health programs at Montfort Renaissance, an organization working in both official languages. “Navigating the healthcare system is a major obstacle for many people. It is essential that they be able to express themselves in the language of their choice from the first point of contact. Although 18% of the regional population is French-speaking, only 6.9% of mental health and addiction requests came from francophones in 2022. Thanks to joint efforts with the Réseau des services de santé en français de l’Est de l’Ontario (RSSFE) and various partners, as well as initiatives such as the Winning Strategies, this rate has increased to over 11% in 2023-24. This underlines our responsibility to offer services in French to vulnerable people and to fill the gaps that still exist.”
Care providers who have adopted the winning strategies were also present. Jennifer Dewaard of Bayshore Healthcare and Stéphanie Poirier of Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice talked about initial organizational hesitation, then of their surprise at how easily the strategies were implemented with the Réseau’s collaboration.
Guest speaker Natalie Kahalé addressed the adoption of winning strategies within an organization under the theme of change management and how to reframe challenges to create the conditions for success.
“This project makes so much sense to us. It contributes to our mission of offering inclusive services, in French, accompanying people at every stage of their lives, from infancy to adulthood. Ensuring that people are referred to services in French is much more than a question of language, it’s about guaranteeing access to care that truly meets their needs and helps them regain well-being in the face of the challenges of mental health, addictions and concomitant disorders,” emphasizes Rachel Gouin, Executive Director of the Centre d’appui et de prévention (Le CAP).
Over the course of the day, many people shared their personal experiences or that of a loved one on the importance of accessing care and services in their mother tongue, highlighting the project’s slogan: When you’re sick, you’re not bilingual.
“I had this experience with someone close to me—a perfectly bilingual Francophone who had spent a long professional career working mainly in English. But during an important appointment with a unilingual English-speaking medical specialist, this person had suddenly lost his bearings and found himself in a vulnerable situation because he had problems communicating in a language other than his mother tongue. What a personal realization of the importance of our work,” concludes Normand Glaude, Chief Executive Officer, RSSFE.
Several members of the Archipel Ontario Health Team were part of the organizing committee for the Taste the French Difference event held at the Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre in Ottawa. Delicious French-Canadian food was served for lunch, and a quiz on Francophonie was enjoyed by participants.
L'Équipe Santé Ontario Archipel est financée par Santé Ontario.
Nous reconnaissons respectueusement que le territoire sur lequel nous opérons est le territoire traditionnel non cédé des Algonquins.
