Language and Interpretation Services
CHEO offers language interpretation for all patients, clients and their families. You can access these services by letting a member of your care team know that you require interpretation services. They will contact CHEO’s interpreter services department and make the necessary arrangements.
We do our best to accommodate your language preferences and work with many providers to ensure we are providing you with care in your preferred language. These providers include our own independently contracted interpreters, CISOC (Cultural Interpretation Services for Our Communities), Canadian Hearing Society, Sign Language Interpreting Associates Ottawa, and Voyce. With the help of these providers, along with our bilingual staff, we are able to provide you with care in your preferred language 24/7.
French Language Services & Advisory Committee
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.
Recognizing the importance of delivering care in both Official Languages and honoring the rights of Francophones, the Official Language minority community in Ontario, CHEO is stepping up to ensure our services in French are consistent to the best of our ability.
The designation reinforces that we have a complement of staff, policies, and practices in place to ensure the ability to always offer bilingual services. This occurs through a combination of the following services:
- An active greeting in English and French: Hello/ Bonjour!
- Services provided by bilingual staff.
- Use of Voyce Interpretation, an on-demand virtual and phone interpreter service, available through iPads and critical to use when bilingual staff are unavailable.
- Signage throughout the hospital in French and English
- Communication systems that offer messages and options in French
This 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. As there are over 126,000 Francophones in the regions, we are thrilled to provide enhanced services to families and patients from these communities.
French Language Services Advisory Committee
A French Language Advisory Committee where francophone staff and a representative from Le Reseau participate and provide advice on how we can ensure a proactive offer of bilingual services and meet our designation requirements. The Committee meets every two months to advance improvements to French Language Services.
Access Intervenor Services (AIS)
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services recently launched an online portal called Access Intervenor Services (AIS) for accessing intervenor services. The AIS portal will improve access to ministry-funded intervenor services by:
- Acting as the single point of access to services for all people who are deafblind
- Providing navigational supports and information about intervenor services in Ontario
- Ensuring that service and support needs are assessed consistently across the province
- Acting as a central repository of information
- Reducing the need for people to repeat their stories or provide their information repeatedly if they move to a new community or agency
- Ensuring that all people who are deafblind, no matter when they became deafblind, where they live or who their service provider is/will be are considered equally to access ministry-funded services
Children, youth and families can apply for Intervenor services or make changes to their current intervenor services through AIS.