Outaouais launches initiative to help anglophones navigate the Quebec healthcare system 

Sophie Demers 

The Centre Intégré de Santé et des Services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO) is taking steps to help English speakers navigate the healthcare system. “ALLO, do you speak English?” is an initiative that started in Côte-Nord and is slowly spreading to different regions of Quebec. The project allows healthcare workers to identify themselves with yellow ID cards, indicating they can communicate in English. 

This is available to all healthcare staff and volunteers, including nurses, doctors, and pharmacists in all departments. 

“When we say that we speak English, it is a point of reference for our English-speaking community, whether in Pontiac or Maniwaki,” said Joanne Dubois, assistant to the director of the local network of Pontiac health services, and coordinator for English services and the ethno-cultural community with CISSSO. “Patients who come to any of our hospitals can look for the yellow identifying badges and feel reassured that they can ask for help, and they will be understood. So, it is a point of reference for someone who is English-speaking to navigate the health system.” 

According to Dubois the initiative has been very well received by staff with over 1,000 employees within the organization wearing the yellow card after an internal campaign. “We get calls every week asking for more yellow ID badges,” she said. 

To get the word out to the English-speaking communities, the department put signs up in all CISSSO buildings, as well as online. They also partnered with Connexions and the Western Quebec School Board to get the information out.

This initiative is separate from the translation and interpretation available with CISSSO. The healthcare facilities that are designated bilingual by the Quebec Health Ministry are required to have employees are required to serve patients in English. 

Dubois noted that the project demonstrates acts of kindness in the healthcare system, highlighting proudly that one of the first individuals to wear the yellow ID badge was CISSSO’s president, Marc Bilodeau.