News Release
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Ottawa – The consultation on caregivers in the mid-Northern Ontario will take place on Monday 26 November in North Bay.
The Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne (AFFC) will meet with key players in the sector of community and public health services, as well as with caregivers to hear what their position is on the services that would be most appropriate for caregivers in Ontario.
“The people who, without remuneration or compensation, support a parent, child, spouse or friend who has become dependent through accident, illness, disability or a loss of autonomy, are often happy to help, but they do so at the price of their physical and mental health”, says Céline Romanin, coordinator for the follow-up project on caregivers for the AFFC. According to the report Les aidantes naturelles dans les communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (AFFC, 2006) the lack of support services, whether support groups or home help services, compromises the mental and physical health of caregivers. The purpose of the consultation on 26 November is to identify what actions should be taken to improve the situation of francophone caregivers in Ontario.
Thanks to Réseau santé en français du Moyen-Nord, the consultation is held at Les Compagnons Center, on 327 Dudley street in North Bay on 26 November from 8 :30 to 12 :30. The Réseau also organizes a community conference at the same location : La dépression chez les aidantes naturels (caregivers) ainsi que chez les personnes atteintes de la maladie… Faut en parler! This public community conference will be held from 11:30 to 4 PM. The lecturers are Claire Narbonne Fortin, a special councillor in health education and promotion for the CAMH and Lana Richardson, a social worker for the CASC of North-East. For more information on the community conference: Lynne Dupuis at 705-674-9381 extension 202.
During the morning consultation, the AFFC will present the results of its 2006 study on caregivers in francophone and Acadian communities in Canada and will lead the discussions on best practices. “We will present some of the services that are available to caregivers in Ontario as well as models for service provision used in other francophone regions of Canada”, Mrs. Romanin explains. The consultation will take stock of the opinions of the participants with regard to the most appropriate services for caregivers.
For more information go to :
http://affc.ca/documents/Province_Ontario.pdf
The Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne (AFFC) is the only organization that represents francophone women living in an area where English is the language of the majority of the population.
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