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

Partners in health

Expanding our Volunteer Network

- by Hélène Doré, Volunteer Coordinator, MCDC

Last May as I started my new job as Volunteer Coordinator for MCDC, I realized how large the territory served by MCDC is (Amiante, Érable, Lotbinière). What a challenge and what a thrill for me to be working for and with you all. Living in the area for nearly 25 years, I have had the chance and the privilege to meet many of you through work on various committees and attendance at community, religious and social events. I have found my roots among you, in this land!

My role at MCDC is to create as many partnerships with the French community volunteer organizations as possible and to try to make their services available to you in English. As you will see from the text below by Lucie Vachon, we have been received with open arms by the Association de l'action volontaire de l'Amiante and we are developing similar partnerships with volunteer organizations in other regions. I am also working with the Sûreté du Québec to help increase home security for seniors. Of course, we continue to maintain close contact with our long-time partners in the English community such as Holland Centre and Townshippers' Association who continue to provide invaluable expertise and assistance.

During the fall, MCDC will be taking over the volunteer transportation services from Holland Centre with their blessing and their unwavering support. We will also be launching a recruitment campaign to replenish our volunteer forces. So if you or someone you know is interested in volunteering, be sure to give us a call. I will have lots of opportunity to meet with you in the coming months. I am very much looking forward to it.

A word from Pierre Pelchat

- Community Organizer - CLSC Frontenac

Most of you probably don't know me. I hold the position of Community Organizer for the "Centre de santé et services sociaux de la Région de Thetford (CSSSRT) and work at the establishment formerly known as "CLSC Frontenac".

I came in contact with MCDC and the English-speaking community many years ago through Peter Whitcomb and Suzanne Aubre who sat on various CLSC committees. Thanks to a important grant from Health Canada to facilitate access to health and social services in English, the CSSSRT has decided to take this partnership a step further. I was assigned as representative of the CSSSRT to work closely with MCDC to help develop and launch projects and initiatives to reach out to the English-speaking community, to make our services better known and to facilitate access in English. I also sit as the representative of the CSSSRT on the regional "Partners in Health" committee.

To better serve you, I attended a 4-week immersion course in English as a second language at Bishop's University during the summer with six of my colleagues from the CSSSRT. I will have the opportunity to meet some of you at information sessions that we are setting up with MCDC for the coming fall and winter and am very proud to say that I will be able to speak to you and answer your questions in English!

A new partner

- by Lucie Vachon, Coordinator, AAVA

It is with great pleasure that I introduce "L'Association de l'action volontaire Amiante" (AVAA) to the English-speaking population of our region. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to homecare and through a variety of volunteer services we try our best to offer an improved quality of life to the senior citizens and the disabled living in the Amiante region.

AAVA relies on a pool of approximately 400 volunteers and offers a wide range of services: information, transport and accompaniment, meals on wheels, visits to the elderly and the shut-ins, phone calls, community meals, civic support and the "Viactive" program. We work in partnership with "Le Centre de santé et services sociaux de la région de Thetford" (CSSSRT).

We are delighted to have the opportunity to establish a new partnership with MCDC and to offer our support and cooperation. We also look forward to exchanging services. I warmly invite the English-speaking population to give us a call at 418-334-0111 whenever one of the above-mentioned services is needed. If the language barrier is a problem, you can contact MCDC who will act as a liaison between our organization and yourself to make the necessary arrangements for you.

The AAVA staff and our volunteers are not all bilingual but they all care about the wellness of the senior citizens of the Amiante region.

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