The Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario (RMEFNO) presented today its first Recommendations Report to the North West and North East LHINs. In accordance with it’s mandate the RMEFNO is required to provide recommendations to the LHINs that will help ensure that Francophones of Northern Ontario have access to a continuum of quality French language health care programs and services.
The RMEFNO lead many community engagement sessions with Francophone communities, as well as with groups, individuals and health service providers across North Western and North Eastern Ontario to identify gaps in the system and develop its report.
The following are the structural recommendations that touch the four areas of focus identified:
Access Points: Create, maintain and support the development of French-language health care service access points that are linguistically and culturally appropriate for Ontario’s Francophone population.
Human Resources: Increase the availability and improve access to qualified French-speaking human resources where they are needed. This involves a training component and a human resources planning component.
Prevention and Promotion: Support the development and implementation of linguistically and culturally appropriate health promotion programs focused on determinants of health and designed to improve the health status of the Francophone population.
Engagement and Service Planning: Ensure that Francophone communities have a more active role in French-language services planning and in self-management of their health.
The complete recommendations report is available in english.