Press Releases - March 2005 - Megantic English-Speaking Community Development health & community services organize social activity

Press Release

For immediate release

Thetford Mines, March 28, 2005 : The Megantic English-speaking Community Development Corporation of Chaudière-Appalaches and L'Érable (MCDC) is a non-profit community organization whose mission is to serve the English-speaking population living in the Amiante, L'Érable and Lotbinière regions. The MCDC was created in November 2000, thanks to the efforts of a small but determined group of community members and the expertise and support of the Holland Centre of Quebec City. Our offices are located at 506 Alfred Street, Thetford Mines.

Following an application for funding presented to Health Canada, the MCDC was granted a subsidy last fall in the amount of $42,600 through the Health Canada "Health and Social Services Networking and Partnership Initiative" program (HSSNPI).

This important subsidy was for a new initiative in the health and social sector. The purpose of this new initiative was to build the networking and partnership capacities of the English-speaking communities so that access to health and social services in English could be improved by :

Generating and sharing information and knowledge regarding the health and social service needs and priorities of English-speaking Quebecers
Creating regional and local networks composed of community, institutional and other partners of the health and social services network. These networks would :
- Help to support more effective and coordinated service delivery for English-speaking populations
- Promote community participation in the public health and social services system
- Foster volunteer development and training
- Design new services if required

In our case, this initiative targeted the English-speaking community living on the territory served by the MCDC, i.e. the Amiante, l'Érable and Lotbinière regions.

Key steps achieved

Since last fall, the MCDC has achieved the following key steps :

A steering and health committee has been appointed by the MCDC Board and a health coordinator hired.
Five meetings of the newly created Networking and Partnership Committee have been held involving the major players in the health and social services sector. They include the Centre Jeunesse, the ADRLSSSS for Chaudiere- Appalaches, the CSSSR of Thetford Mines, the CSSS du Grand Littoral and the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis.
As a direct result of this initiative, eight employees of the CSSSR of Thetford Mines and Centre Jeunesse will be attending English immersion courses at Bishop's University.
Also, over fifty employees of the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis and the CSSS du Grand Littoral are presently enrolled in English courses.
Furthermore, important documents are presently being translated. They include the patient's Guide to Services, the hospital's Code of Ethics, consent forms, admission forms, instruction sheets for test preparation and menus to name a few.

Needs assessment and census data

Most recently two important resources, in the generating and sharing of information and knowledge regarding the health and social services needs and priorities of the English-speaking community in the area served by MCDC, have been produced.

The first is a Needs Assessment Report just released by MCDC. This report is based on a qualitative study conducted by Groupe Recherche Focus. GRF held five focus groups in the communities of Thetford Mines, Inverness and St. Agathe de Lotbiniere last December.

Participants were asked to identify needs, prioritize them and then to suggest possible solutions.

There is no doubt about what constitutes the top level priority for the participants. Regardless of whether they were male or female or where they lived in the region, difficulties related to language are THE priority. The quality of the services was the second priority followed by social problems as the third.

The Report makes the following recommendations :

that a Health and Social Services Network be established to ensure that the needs and expectations of the English-speaking community be considered.
that contact be made with the regional authorities to ensure that they have complete and accurate information about the English-speaking community.
that a highly visible symbolic measure related to the" English language" within the larger regional society be put in place to restore the English-speaking population's confidence that they are indeed recognized as a specific community within the overall community.
that regular English "cultural activities" continue to be provided to the English-speaking people, with special attention given to younger and middle aged, to reinforce the sense of belonging to the community.
that action continue to be taken to emphasize the availability and delivery of health and social services to English-speaking children and teenagers.
that steps be taken to match the health and social services priorities of the English-speaking community with those of the French-speaking community, with priority given to youth and young adults.

The second is an excellent resource contained in a Set of Compact Disks recently released by the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN). This data describes the characteristics of the English-speaking communities gathered in the last census (2001). "We are delighted," stated Suzanne Aubre, Executive Director of MCDC," that the CHSSN has provided us with this very specific data on the English population in our area. It even breaks it down by CLSC region, giving us excellent up-to-date information which will prove invaluable in our discussion with our partners!"

Her sentiments were echoed by Ann Marie Powell, President of the MCDC ,"Both the Needs Assessment and the census data will help us provide the decision makers in health and social services with the most current information available." She went on to observe," With the progress of the networking and partnership initiative we are well on our way to achieving several of the recommendations of the GRF study . We have a Community Picnic planned for the Spring and a supper and evening's entertainment with Lorne Elliot in the Fall. Not to mention, our involvement with the school and our continuing commitment to the youth of our community. I think MCDC is on the right track!"

With the second year of this four-year project, the MCDC will continue the development of its network of partners to insure long-term sustainability of this initiative and will start working with local community organizations to improve access to volunteer services in English.

For additional information, please contact :

Peter Whitcomb, Health Coordinator - MCDC
Tel : (418) 332-3851 / e-mail : mcdc.health@bellnet.ca

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