Last week, the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) at Laurentian University held a workshop on the active offer of health services in French. The workshop brought together more than 20 Francophone health sector professionals, faculty members from Laurentian University and key community stakeholders, and allowed participants to broaden their awareness of the need to incorporate the concept of active offer into the training of Francophone healthcare professionals, share their experiences and inspire new practices.
“Concrete progress made by the CNFS on the active offer initiative demonstrates the significant role played by postsecondary institutions to improve the quality of health services offered in French,” explained Laurentian University president and CNFS board member Dominic Giroux. “Thanks to the commitment of our faculty members and community partners, we are already in a position to better rally our future graduates so that they may enhance French-language health services offered in minority settings.”
Coming from different areas of the province, participants showed an interest in making their workplace an area where health services are offered proactively in both official languages from the very first contact. To that effect, future professionals graduating from programs supported by the CNFS who have received prior training on the importance of an active offer will play a crucial role in improving – and ensuring sustainability of – French-language health services.
The CNFS, through this workshop, is reinforcing the integration of active offer concepts which is indicated as a priority activity in the training and research component of its Phase IV (2013-2018).