BEYOND WORDS - ISSUE 4 - SPRING 2009

Centre de santé Saint-Thomas Health Centre

Many seniors fought to maintain the use of the French language in a province that prohibited it. With the official opening of the Centre de santé Saint-Thomas Health Centre in Edmonton in May 2008, Alberta’s French-speaking community saw a dream come true: the option for Francophone seniors to live in an environment that is conducive to their linguistic and cultural vitality while giving them access to health services in their language.

This has been Project Coordinator Denis Collette’s dream since the 1990s. Construction on the Saint-Thomas Health Centre was made possible by the work of Alberta’s French-speaking community, which raised over $1 million in donations and obtained funding from all three levels of government.

“This is what the community wanted,” says Hubert Gauthier, President of the Société Santé en français, an organization dedicated to improving access to French-language health services. In fact, in the late 1990s, the federal government realized that official language communities were lacking health services. Since then, support from Health Canada has helped the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada create the Société Santé en français in 2002 and implement 17 regional, provincial and territorial networks, including the Réseau santé albertain World Wide Web site

(in French only) (Alberta health network) in 2004.

When the Réseau santé albertain was created, the community wanted to include a health clinic that would house various health professionals. So the network supported the community in obtaining funds to set up this clinic.

The first resident

“My name is René Charrier and, after living in an apartment in South Edmonton for 12 years, I am now a resident of the Saint-Thomas Health Centre.

“It was my friend, Project Coordinator Denis Collette, who encouraged me to move to the Centre. He had been talking to me about this project for many years and I told him: ‘You’re crazy! You’ll never be able to get millions of dollars to build this centre!’

“When I realized that his dream was going to be a reality, it peaked my interest. Actually, I’m the Centre’s very first resident. I was bored at my old place because there were no other Francophones nearby that I could chat with. Today, I’m very active and I speak a lot more French! The majority of the residents speak French. We organized a social club and all the activities are in French. However, we invite Anglophones too, and many participate in our activities.

“I’m a musician and, through the social club, we offer French song nights. Anglophones come too. I didn’t get to do this kind of thing where I was living before. Even the public transportation system provides a small bus that comes every hour and brings us to the closest shopping mall. It’s wonderful! I’m very happy here!”

According to Luc Therrien, Executive Director of the Réseau santé albertain, “housing a community health centre within this seniors’ residence and care centre makes it unique in Canada.” Four doctors work at the centre and, because this community clinic is also a member of the Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network (PCN), which has around 60 doctors, it can provide services by a PCN-employed bilingual nurse two days a week.

Other health services for Francophones are also available under the same roof. There is a school adjustment network that provides services from health professionals such as speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and psychologists to the province’s Francophone schools. Campus Saint-Jean at the University of Alberta, just across from the Centre, also rents an office for their psychologist.

The Société Santé en français and the 17 networks help diminish the isolation of minority Francophone communities. One of the network’s benefits is the sharing of best practices. “Across the country, people are watching what is happening in Edmonton,” says Hubert Gauthier. This accomplishment is an inspiration for other minority Francophone communities.

“There was no in-house care centre that provided bilingual services in Edmonton or in Northern Alberta,” Denis Collette explains. “We didn’t want to open a French-only centre since we live in an area where most people are English-speaking and where many of the seniors have English-speaking spouses. Instead, we wanted to create a bilingual environment where everyone is welcome, but where English and French are equally respected and promoted.”

“We’ve noticed that some Francophones in exogamous relationships, where English is the language spoken most often, have resumed speaking French since they’ve been at the Centre,” adds Collette.

Recently, the son of an English-speaking resident talked about his appreciation for the care and services provided to his unilingual English-speaking father. “Since he’s been here, we have felt better. We know that he is well taken care of. He has made new friends. He even says ‘bonjour’ to French-speaking residents and employees.”

The employees want to speak French. “One of my English-speaking employees came to work here specifically to improve her French. She insists that all French-speaking colleagues speak to her in French,” says Suzanne Bugeaud, Executive Director of the Centre.

Even though it was officially opened in May 2008, the Centre de santé Saint-Thomas Health Centre first opened its doors in 2007. Lina Malo, the first employee hired (May 2007), sees every day how this centre supports the community. “This past year has been completely insane! It’s a service that is very much in demand and that will become increasingly essential for the ageing population. People appreciate the Centre,” says Malo.