For an Inclusive Health Network, a Friend of the LGBTQIA2S+ Community
Vitalité Health Network, Monday, November 14, 2022 - Intent on providing a healthy, safe and inclusive environment for all staff members and clients, Vitalité Health Network is pleased to announce the creation of the working group “For an Inclusive Health Network, a Friend of the LGBTQIA2S+ Community”.
“We are committed to reviewing our practices to ensure they are always inclusive and respectful of people and provide health care services that satisfactorily meet the needs of LGBTQIA2S+ community members. That’s part of our responsibility as a health system,” affirmed Dr. France Desrosiers, President and CEO of Vitalité Health Network.
The Network has hired a regional advisor, Jonathan Cormier, to handle the employee diversity, equity and inclusion files and promote an employee experience that reflects these values. “It’s important for all employees, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity, to feel fully appreciated and recognized,” explained Mr. Cormier, a working group member.
“LGBTQIA2S+ community members face many challenges, particularly when seeking specialized health care in French, which is why I see it as important to help improve this clientele’s access to health care services. The project is a promising one that is very close to my heart,” indicated Carole Gallant, the Network’s Director of Child-Youth Mental Health and Addiction Services and architect of the initiative.
The working group, made up of a dozen professionals from various key sectors, is tasked with identifying initiatives and activities that will help improve the delivery of health care services to the LGBTQIA2S+ community and proactively include this population within the Network. The working group is being supported by the research sector, which is coordinating a literature review on the challenges and barriers that LGBTQIA2S+ community members face in health care services and on winning strategies to improve the inclusion of this community’s members within the health system.
All efforts are being undertaken with participation by a few partners with LGBTQIA2S+ community experience and in collaboration with organizations supporting this clientele.
The working group is an outgrowth of a provincial initiative, underway since 2020, that has been looking at the challenges facing the LGBTQIA2S+ community, especially in health care services. The efforts to establish the working group and to develop an action plan for Vitalité Health Network began in 2021.
