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Back to SearchMarch 1, 2023 - Ottawa, ON - We are proud to announce CHEO has received the French services health provider designation under the Province of Ontario French Language Services Act. The nomination was provided by the Réseau des services de santé en français de l’Est de l’Ontario (RSSFE) and approved by the Ministry of Health in December 2022.
Seeking health care, especially for children and youth, can be daunting. At CHEO, we work hard to remove barriers like language, and make kids’ health care as stress free as we can. This new designation recognizes the efforts made by CHEO to make its services accessible in the French language to children, youth and their families in our community. With over 126,000 francophone patients and families in our region, this is a major milestone, and we are thrilled to further enhance our patients’ experience.
For children, youth and their families receiving care at CHEO, this designation means that we have a compliment of staff, policies, and practices in place to ensure the ability to offer bilingual services at all times. For example, where bilingual staff is not available, Voyce Interpretation, an on-demand virtual and phone interpreter service, is available through iPads to facilitate the exchange with families and patients.
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Media contact
media@cheo.on.ca
About CHEO
Dedicated to the best life for every child and youth, CHEO is a global leader in pediatric health care and research. Based in Ottawa, CHEO includes a hospital, children’s treatment centre, school and research institute, with satellite services located throughout Eastern Ontario. CHEO provides excellence in complex pediatric care, research and education. We are committed to partnering with families and the community to provide exceptional care — where, when and how it’s needed. CHEO is a partner of the Kids Come First Health Team, a network of partners in Eastern Ontario working to create a high quality, standardized and coordinated system for pediatric health care that is centred around children, youth and their families. Every year, CHEO helps more than 500,000 children and youth from Eastern Ontario, western Quebec, Nunavut and Northern Ontario.