Over 30 health and social service organizations from across the Pontiac are going to be gathered in one place this Saturday, Feb. 8, with a single goal in mind: getting you connected with the support you need, whatever it is.
Representatives from these organizations – including the likes of l’EntourElle, Pontiac Chiropractic Clinic, TransporAction, and the Outaouais Community Justice Centre, to name but a sampling – will be set up in the gym at Shawville’s Pontiac High School from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to talk to residents about the wide variety of services they offer, and connect people with the services they need.
The event is a collaboration between Connexions Resource Centre and the Outaouais’ public healthcare authority, CISSSO.
“It’s very clear people are not always aware of the services that are available here in the Pontiac,” said Shelley Heaphy, Connexions’ outreach and engagement coordinator for the Pontiac. “Sometimes you have a perception of one thing that an organization does, but often that organization does tons more.”
People will be able to browse the kiosks throughout the morning to learn about all the different kinds of help they can access in the region, and will also have the opportunity to sit in on a presentation from CISSSO about all that is available through the 8-1-1 healthcare hotline’s options #1, #2, and #3.
“In a nutshell, when you dial #1 you’re going to be speaking to a nurse; when you dial #2 you’re going to be speaking to someone local who can advise you on what referral you need to get the services you’re looking for; and #3 will get you access to a medical appointment within a certain delay, if you don’t have a family doctor,” explained CISSSO’s community outreach coordinator Serena Larivière, noting more thorough presentations will be given about how to use the hotline at Saturday’s event.
The French presentation will begin at 9:30 a.m., and the English presentation at 11 a.m..
Larivière works supporting the health and social service organizations in the Pontiac in whichever way she can.
She said a big part of what she hopes this event will accomplish is expand people’s understanding of all that a place like a food bank, or a shelter or a rideshare program can offer, and also challenge people’s ideas of who these services are available to.
“As a society, people don’t often identify as a person that’s necessarily in need. For example, we have a program for caregivers. People don’t often identify as a caregiver,” she said.
“They imagine being a caregiver is caring for somebody lying in a bed sick, tending to them always, but being a caregiver can be so much more than that. Are you managing their meds or their appointments, getting their groceries, making doctors appointments?” she asked, emphasizing there’s no one definition of what it means to be a caregiver, and there is local support for people doing this work, whatever form it takes.
For Heaphy, this event is also about challenging the ideas people have about Pontiac as a desert when it comes to healthcare services.
“The Pontiac is so large, and we get so stuck in saying we have nothing here,” she said. “A fair like this hopefully opens up your eyes to new things that you didn’t know about.”
Larivière said this last point was important.
“While you’re waiting for your healthcare professional, there’s other services that can fill the gap in that time.”
