Deborah Powell
Local Journalism Initiative
BRISTOL – Close to 30 people were at Jack Graham Hall in Bristol on the evening of November 9 for a session entitled Ensuring Access To Healthcare In Rural Areas, Listening To Rural Communities. The event was one of four held simultaneously across the Outaouais, organized regionally by Action Santé Outaouais in conjunction with local grassroots organizations such as Pontiac Voice.
The evening opened with an hour-long online panel in French with Chantal Lamarche, Warden of the MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau; Dr. Ruth Vander Stelt, Quyon doctor and board member of the RQMDSS – a group of Quebec doctors for decentralization of the health system; and Roch Martel, who has been working as a consultant for the MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau’s project for local healthcare management.
Major points from the panel discussion included consensus that the provincial government’s “one-size-fits-all” measures don’t work because urban and rural situations are not the same. The importance of returning certain decision-making powers to local health personnel so they can innovate in finding solutions was also underscored. The need to return lost services to the regions as well as the “human touch” were points agreed upon as essential to restoring citizen confidence in the healthcare system.
While the automatic English translation of the panel discussion was dubious at times and required very fast reading on the part of the audience, most participants said they were able to get the gist of what the panelists were saying. Small group participant discussions touched on the same points the panelists had gone over. The return of lost local services for things such as cataract surgery and obstetrics were major items. Attendees were provided with a booklet containing 6 questions to help structure the discussions.
Dr. Ruth Vander Stelt arrived at the hall in person to contribute to the workshop conversations. “Local mobilization is essential to improving our services. People need to provide feedback and help the Local Users’ Committee to do its work,” she said, repeating a point made during the panel discussion when she had also said effective citizen committees make citizens feel heard and supported.
Nicole Boucher-Larivière, Proximity Director for Pontiac Local Service Network (RLS) was also present for the workshop discussions. She was appointed less than a year ago by CISSSO, the regional health authority. “I’m confident that if we all start working together we can improve. The key is to work as a community network,” she said, while recognizing the particular difficulties the Pontiac faces, such as the challenge of recruiting bilingual personnel to serve the 65% of the population who are English-speaking.
Photo: Josey Bouchard (centre) of Pontiac Voice, the local organization behind the “Listening to Rural Communities” event, shares her experiences during the small group discussions that followed the online panel.