RISE partnering with the Entités to support OHTs to meet the needs of Franco-Ontarians

The delivery of equitable care and offering care that best meets the needs of diverse populations is a key priority for the implementation of Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). This includes the inclusion of francophone communities/populations in the design and delivery of care, engaging with the local French Language Health Planning Entity on health-planning activities, as well as working towards implementing the principle of active offer of French language services across in-reach and outreach services.

Active offer is a critical component of strengthening French-language health services and ensuring adherence to the FLS Act (1990) for OHTs serving a francophone-designated area. Active-offer training can also help OHTs in non-designated areas as they will need mechanisms in place to systematically identify francophone patients and offer care coordination and navigation services to direct them to services in French inside or outside their OHT.

The active-offer training (www.activeoffertraining.ca) is available free-of-charge through an online platform, in both French and English. Developed by the Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario in collaboration with the other Entités, it includes six training modules and requires a total of five hours to complete. Course completion is eligible for continuing-education credits with several professional colleges across Canada.  Please visit www.activeoffertraining.ca and encourage all interested members of your OHT to register.

RISE is partnering with the Entités to offer collaborative learning sessions around the implementation of the active offer and to support compliance with the FLS Act more generally for OHTs in both designated and non-designated areas starting in the fall of 2021. We look forward to working together to support French language services across the province.