Sudbury – The Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario (RMEFNO) held its Annual General Meeting on May 22, 2014 in Kapuskasing. Approximately 25 people from various regions in Northern Ontario—Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, and Kapuskasing–were in attendance, either in person or by videoconference.
Elections were held for five vacancies on the Board of Directors. The following members were elected: Denis Bélanger, Timmins; Angèle Brunelle, North West; André Marcil, Kapuskasing-Cochrane; Kim Morris, Sudbury-Manitoulin; and Claire Narbonne-Fortin, Sudbury-Manitoulin. Fabien Hébert and Kim Morris were re-elected as co-presidents, along with Angèle Brunelle as secretary, André Marcil as treasurer and Denis Bélanger as resource. For a complete list of Board members and Board vacancies, please visit the RMEFNO Website at www.rmefno.ca.
Through various community engagement activities and with the collaboration of the Carrefours santé (Health Hubs), the RMEFNO was able to meet their objective of identifying and raising awareness of the needs of the Francophone population.
In 2013-2014, the RMEFNO solidified their working relationship with the North East and North West Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the health service providers in order to improve planning for equitable access to quality health care services in French. We are pleased to report that the NE and NW LHINs have achieved over 50 percent of the recommendations outlined in the first Recommendation Report provided to the LHINs by the RMEFNO. Much of the activities revolved around establishing a process for designation, working groups to respond to the recommendations and the increased engagement with our communities.
This year marked the dissolution of the Réseau de santé en français du Moyen-Nord de l’Ontario (RSFMNO) and the Réseau francophone de santé du Nord de l’Ontario (RFSNO) and the creation of the Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario (RMEFNO). The RMEFNO has assumed responsibility for the areas that were covered by the two Réseaux and is a member of the Société Santé en français (SSF). Kim Morris and Fabien Hébert, co-presidents of the RMEFNO Board of Directors, note that “the RMEFNO was created to unify its role as French Language Health Planning Entity and member of Société Santé en français. The integration of the two Réseaux has also led to a more efficient and effective organisation, working with one Board of Directors and one organizational structure”. The co-presidents would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Directors of the RFSMNO and the RFSNO for their exceptional work over the past several years.
The RMEFNO 2013-2014 annual report is available here.
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Monique Rocheleau, Associate Executive Director
mrocheleau@rmefno.ca
or (705) 477-0160