ED's Weekly

Vol. 3, No.10

General News

UPDATES for 2011 CONFERENCE: Community Health Centres: Acting today, shaping tomorrow
Community Health Week: Updates and requests
Did you participate in the "Do the Math" Campaign? We need your photos!
Canada’s Environmental Path Could Jeopardize Long-Term Quality of Life
Online discussion forum connects community-oriented centres and partners around the world

CHC News

CSC Hamilton demande pour l'assistance via un sondage téléphonique / CSC Hamilton is asking help via a telephone survey
Photos from November 29th Queen's Park event/launch of Great Health Divide now available

Previous Issues

2011 CONFERENCE UPDATES: Community Health Centres: Acting today, shaping tomorrow

Registration is now open and member restrictions now lifted!

Please visit the Registration Page for more information and to register.
For AOHC Member Centres, the restriction of 5 registrations per Centre has been lifted. Please register as many participants as you would like.
The EARLY BIRD rate will now be available until May 1^st.

Hotel and Travel Discounts:

The AOHC has secured a group rate at the Westin Harbour Castle of $209/night, under the group rate name "AOHC 2011". The rate is available from June 6 to June 13.
Travel discounts are also available for VIA Rail, Air Canada, Bearskin Airlines and Porter. Visit the conference Venue and Travel page for details.

Program Updates

Updated preliminary program now available for download.
The great lineup of Workshops and Networking Sessions have been chosen. Workshop descriptions are now available!
Plenary speakers Jack Geiger, founder of the Community Health Centre movement in the United States, Roy Romanow, spokesperson of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and former Commissioner on the Future of Health Care in Canada, and Jan De Maeseneer, Chairperson of the European Forum for Primary Care, have been confirmed. Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Deb Matthews is now confirmed.
Legendary singer-songwriter, educator and social activist Buffy Sainte-Marie has been confirmed as the special guest at the June 9^thGala Dinner.
Conference Recordings are FREE to attendees! For the first time, conference attendees will receive access of up to 70 hours of audio synched to PPT presentations and handouts at the online AOHC Live Learning Centre. This virtual library will allow you to review the sessions you attended and attend the sessions you couldn't because of scheduling conflicts........and it's all included in your cost of registration!

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Community Health Week: updates and requests

Minister Matthews and CHW

We know a lot of you are still awaiting word from Minister Matthews on whether she can attend your event. Having her, and your local MPP, at your CHW event is a great way to increase newsworthiness of the event for media. Here’s the latest scoop on what’s up with all the invitations:

Yesterday we received a call from the Ministers’s Communication Assistant Meaghan Connolly who said the only confirmation they can offer thus far is for Chigamik’s official opening in Midland on the afternoon of Tuesday April 26^th.

However, Meaghan also assured: “We’re still going to keep all the other events in mind as we firm up the Minister’s schedule.”

Meaghan went on to say: “Our office is going to contact the local MPPs of the centres in the spreadsheet you sent me and of the centres who have sent formal invitations to see if they are able to attend.”

She also suggests “you encourage member centres to contact their MPPs at the same time.”

Regarding new invitations, Meaghan said “you can continue sending them to me (meaghan.connolly@ontario.ca) and my colleague Gerry Frenette (Gerard.Frenette@ontario.ca) but in all likelihood we will only be able to forward the invites to the local MPP. Again, we would suggest the centres also send the invitation to their local MPP.”

We’ll keep you posted on further news from Matthews office as it develops.

A special note to all centres opening Healthy Smiles Ontario Clinics

If your HSO clinic is opened, or is in the process opening, please let us know the date and time as we intend to spotlight the HSO initiative as part of our province-wide CHW media relations. And if you want to invite the Minister to your HSO event Gerry Frenette (Gerard.Frenette@ontario) is the lead.

Please keep us informed of your events and their details

If you have chosen your dates and times for your Community Health Week event(s), and haven't done so already, please be sure to email our Communications Coordinator Danielle Deptuck at danielle@aohc.org with your details, including times.

If you have not yet scheduled your event(s), please do so as soon as possible and let us know as the Ministry is very interested and it will increase your chances of having the Minister of Health attend your event. Our first report to the Ministry has already gone out, but we will be keeping them up to date on a regular basis as we approach the end of the month.

Media relations contact

We intend to list Community Health Week events on AOHC's website and the Ontario CHCs' website the week before. We also intend to direct media to these pages. If you have a media relations contact at your centre please let us know (danielle@aoch.org and marym@aohc.org) and we will list them. Having a direct contact will increase your event's chances of being covered by the media.

Want to know what other centres are up to?

To view a list of the events that we have been informed of, please click here (PDF). The list was last updated on April 8, 2011. To add your event to the list, please contact Danielle at danielle@aoch.org)

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Did you participate in the "Do the Math" Campaign? We need your photos!

If your Centre participated in the "Do the Math" campaign that was launched in the fall and you have photos documenting your activities around it (press conference, launch party, wrap-up event etc.) please send them to AOHC's Communications Coordinator, Danielle Deptuck (danielle@aohc.org) as we may want to use them in our upcoming Annual Report, Synergy or other promotional platforms.

Thank you!

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Canada’s Environmental Path Could Jeopardize Long-Term Quality of Life

Canada is not a country in crisis, but there are clear warning signs of potential threats to our environment and wellbeing, according to the new CIW Environment Report released on April 7, 2011.The report finds that soaring greenhouse gasses, increasing waste generation and energy use, declining stocks of large fish species, and shrinking water supplies in parts of the country - are offsetting gains like reduced air pollution emissions, good water quality and healthy forest bird populations. Some of these environmental trends could eventually result in poorer health, a weaker economy, lower standard of living and diminished quality of life. Like many countries, Canada is facing difficult challenges and the choices we make as a society will determine whether we face a distressed future or a better quality of life.

Download the report highlights, full report and a supplementary paper Ideas for Positive Change at http://www.ciw.ca/en/TheCanadianIndexOfWellbeing/DomainsOfWellbeing/Environment.aspx.

The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is a new way of measuring wellbeing that provides unique insights into the quality of life of Canadians – overall, and in specific areas such as: living standards, health, environment, education, time use, community vitality, democratic engagement, and leisure and culture. It is produced by the CIW Network, based in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. For more information, visit www.ciw.ca.

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Online discussion forum connects community-oriented centres and partners around the world

Have you and your CHC, AHAC or CFHT been participating in the new online discussion forum for and about centres who deliver community-oriented primary health care? The new weekly, Twitter-based "CHC Chat" takes place each Thursday from 3pm - 4pm EST. Launched in late February by AOHC, CACHCA and our US partner, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), CHC Chat is already bringing health centres and community partners around the world closer together. We hope that you and your CHC, AHAC or CFHT will participate in this weekly forum. Gain insights from other CHCs across Canada, the US and around the world. Network and find other community health leaders working on issues and programs that are important to you and your centre. Then take the sharing, networking and collaboration offline. Plan to connect with some of the new allies and colleagues you make online, at the June 2011 Conference in Toronto; CHC Chat provides a great way to start connecting today! To learn more about CHC Chat and how to participate, see: http://www.cachca.ca/resources/twitterchat.html

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CSC Hamilton demande pour l'assistance via un sondage téléphonique

Chères centres de santé communautaires,

Dans le cadre de la refonte de notre plan de communication, nous menons actuellement une enquête afin de collecter des informations sur la manière dont les centres de santé communautaires communiquent avec leur clientèle. Dans cet optique, vous trouverez ci-dessous le questionnaire qui fera l'objet d'une enquête téléphonique d'une dizaine de minutes au cours de la prochaine semaine.

Si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez, nous indiquer directement le numéro et le poste de la personne à joindre ainsi que ses disponibilités à l'adresse suivante : Odette.Ebenye-Doumbe@cschn.ca. En remerciement de votre participation nous nous ferons un plaisir de vous communiquer les résultats de notre enquête.

Cordialement,

Le centre de santé communautaire Hamilton/Niagara.

Les questions qui vous seront posées lors de l'entretien téléphonique :

Votre Centre dispose-t-il d'un poste d'agent de communication ?
Qui s'occupe de la communication ?
Pensez vous que votre Centre soit bien connu du public ?
Quels sont les défis que vous rencontrez au niveau de la communication ?
Pouvez-vous nous parler de vos réussites/succès en la matière ?
Comment faites-vous pour bénéficier de couvertures médiatiques ?
Les médias sont-ils ouverts à travailler avec vous ?
Comment informez-vous votre clientèle des nouveautés dans votre Centre ?
En ce qui concerne vos publications écrites, comment êtes-vous organisé pour faire à la fois de la promotion pour l'ensemble de votre organisation et pour vos différents programmes ?
Quels sont les médias sociaux que vous utilisez et quel usage en faites-vous? Si vous possédez une page Facebook ou Twitter, constatez vous une évolution dans vos échanges avec la communauté, une plus grande participation de celle-ci à vos activités ?

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CSC Hamilton is asking help via a telephone survey

Dear Community Health Centres,

On the occasion of the restructuring of our communications strategy, we are currently conducting a survey in order to collect information concerning how Community Health Centres usually handle their communications with their clientele. From this perspective, you will find below the questionnaire which will be the subject of our 10 minutes phone enquiry during the next week.

If possible, by sending an email to Odette.Ebenye-Doumbe@cschn.ca you can tell us the phone number, the extension and the availability of the person to contact for this survey. To thank you for your participation it will be a pleasure for us to share with you the results of our investigation.

Yours sincerely,

The Francophone Community Health Center Hamilton/Niagara.

Here are the questions we will ask you to answer during the phone survey :

Does your centre have a communication agent ?
If no, who is in charge of the communication ?
Do you think your centre is well known of the public ?
What are the main challenges you have to face in regards to communication ?
Can you tell us more about your success in that matter ?
How do you manage to get some media coverage ?
Are the media opened to work with you ?
How do you inform your customers about the news (activities and programmes) of your centre ?
Concerning your written publications, how are you organized to promote both your organization as a whole, and the different programs and activities at the same time ?
What are the social media you use and how do you use them? If you have a Facebook or Twitter page, do you see any growth concerning the involvement/contribution of the community to your activities?

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Photos from November 29th Queen's Park event/launch of Great Health Divide now available

The best of our photographs from the launch event of the Great Health Divide report held at Queen's Park on November 29th is now available for viewing and download on our Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aohc2010/sets/72157625645468607. We apologize for the large delay. Enjoy!

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