Health Sources

Personal health practices and coping skills

Addiction Toolkit

 CAMH, Center for Addiction and Mental Health

This accessible and practical reference is for health care providers who work in a primary care setting and who have patients with substance use problems. Based on current clinical evidence and the extensive clinical experience of the editors and contributors, the toolkit provides brief answers to common clinical questions, as well as relevant clinical tools and patient resources.

Early Learning Resource

Ophea; Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities

Various resources and ideas for physical activity program, warm-up session and health promotion education tools for school aged children.

ÉDUCAVIE.ca (French resource)

OPHEA Écoles saines, Communautés saines, Nexus Santé, Élargir l'espace francophone (French resource)

éducavie.ca from educavie on Vimeo.

This site develops and sustains collaboration among public health professionals, community health services and francophone education services in Ontario. This network, which focuses on the health and well-being focus on the following topics: growth and sexuality, mental health, addiction, healthy eating and physical skills.

Interventions based on best practices for chronic disease prevention and health promotion

Public health Agency of Canada

Marche vers le futur (Walking towards the futur)

"Marche vers le futur" is one of a kind initiative to prevent falls and designed to meet the needs of clients in remote regions. marche vers le futur3A design initiative to remotely meet client’s need on a unique fall prevention program. Through this program, seniors living in francophone minority communities can now receive similar training to those living in urban areas. Through videoconferencing, participants receive professional expertise which are not available in their communities. Become a trainer following a free two day videoconferencing training. For more information, contact CNFS – Volet Université d’Ottawa by email ([email protected]) or by phone at 613-562-5800ext 8027 or toll free at 1 877-221-2637

Mental Health in Ontario

Réseau franco-santé du Sud de l'Ontario, Sept 2013

Guidance document for the commitment of French partners to validate priorities in mental health and measures against addictions in Ontario. (French only)

Older Adult Centres’ Association of Ontario (OACAO)

The Older Adult Centres' Association of Ontario, which was founded in 1973, is an incorporated non-profit provincial organization and a registered charity. The OACAO is funded entirely through membership fees, business partnerships, educational training ventures, management of special projects and various revenue generation initiatives.

A community facility that provides a diversity of activities and services in response to the needs of local older adult population.

Ontario’s Policy Framework for Child and Youth Mental Health

A Shared Responsibility

As the champion of children and youth, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) has developed a policy framework to provide strategic direction for ongoing improvements over the next decade. The framework applies to all Ontario children and youth up to age 18.

Ministry of Children and Youth Services, November 2006

Seniors Community Grant Program

 As part of the Action Plan for Seniors, Ontario has introduced the first ever grants program, solely dedicated to helping seniors across the province.

The new Seniors Community Grant Program will help more seniors have a better quality of life by providing opportunities to be more socially active, volunteer and continue their learning in areas like technology and financial literacy.

This grant program will make $500,000 available for projects across Ontario that will help more seniors become socially engaged and feel part of their communities.

THE IMPACT OF LANGUAGE BARRIERS ON PATIENT SAFETY AND QUALITY OF CARE

Final Report

Capture

Prepared by: Sarah Bowen, PhD
For: Société Santé en français
August, 2015.

KEY POINTS


1. Significant research has been conducted on the impact of language barriers on health and healthcare, particularly over the past two decades. This research, (and several sys-tematic and critical reviews) has provided compelling evidence of the negative impact of language barriers on healthcare access, patient satisfaction and experience, as well as disparities in receipt of care between English (dominant language) proficient patients and those facing language barriers.


2. Those facing language barriers also face increased risk of medication errors and com-plications, and adverse events. The rights of limited English proficient patients to in-formed consent and confidentiality are often not protected.


3. The research on language access does not align that well with the healthcare quality and safety literature; and not all applicable research is published in commonly-cited medical journals. This may contribute to low awareness of the risks of language barriers among providers and managers.


4. Due to data limitations, limited research on impacts of language barriers has been con-ducted in the Canadian setting. However, a review of the pathways through which lan-guage barriers impact quality of care and safety indicates that much of the international research is applicable in the Canadian context.


5. In contrast to the evidence of negative impacts of language barriers on quality of care (including risk of adverse events), there is not evidence of disparities in mortality be-tween English proficient patients and those facing language barriers. This finding is not unexpected, given what is known about the pathways by which language barriers affect care quality, and limitations of methods used to investigate the impact of language barri-ers on health outcomes.


6. There are several barriers to action in addressing the risks of language barriers to quali-ty of care and patient safety: lack of awareness of current research; gaps in Canadian research; lack of language coding in Canadian data; historical framing of linguistic ac-cess as an issue of cultural sensitivity (rather than patient safety); and failure to ade-quately “translate” available evidence into healthcare action.


7. Recent research has begun to outline the complexity of pathways by which language, culture, race/ethnicity and health literacy may affect patient care.
8. Current approaches to addressing the risks of language barriers rely on the dedication and insight of individual providers rather than implementation of effective, evidence-informed strategies at the system level. This is not acceptable in light of current knowledge of effective approaches to patient safety.


9. Implications of available evidence for future research, for the SSF, and for the patient safety movement are discussed.

 

SSF Bowen, S. - Language Barriers Study

Training Institute on Violence Against Women

Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes (AOcVF)

This organization offer training in French in person at the provincial and regional level, as well as an online self-learning modules training. They also created documents, analysis, intervention tools, advocacy tools, webcasts and podcasts. The institute constantly develops new training activities. You can find on their website information and resources you need to intervene effectively in the field of violence against women and children. (French service only)

Trillium Foundation

The Trillium foundation encourages the development of healthy and dynamic communities in Ontario, by investing in community initiatives that strengthen the capacity of the volunteer sector. Deadlines for requesting funds from the community program and the provincial program are March 1st, July 1st and November 1st.