The NDG Community Health Forum took place on October 21st, 2017 at the Crowley Arts Centre in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The forum was an initiative of the NDG Working Group on Health, a working group of the NDG Community Council whose goal is to improve community knowledge about how to access local health and social services. This report documents the process of planning the forum, its goals and objectives, the participating organizations as well as the themes that emerged which will inform the work of the NDG Working Group on Health going forward.

Close to thirty local agencies from the public, private and non-profit sector participated at the forum through information kiosks, hosting thematic workshops and distributing printed materials to the close to 100 residents and community workers who attended the forum. The event took place in the context of ongoing health care reform in Quebec, beginning with the adoption of Bill 10 by the National Assembly in 2015. The NDG Working Group on Health, while acknowledging the aims of this reform to improve access to front-line services and medical care for all Quebecers, intends this forum as one of the first steps towards an ongoing collaboration between the community and the public sector health network to meet their common objective of guaranteeing access to health care and ensuring that the unique needs of communities are represented throughout that process.

The NDG Community Health Forum served to highlight the role played by the community, in particular the local network of non-profit organizations providing social services to residents of NDG, in meeting the health needs of the population. In addition to equipping residents with information and resources to help them to better access the health system, the forum shone a spotlight on the social determinants of health, such as access to affordable housing, healthy food and stable revenue, all of which impact a person's’ well-being. Among the key themes to come out of the forum were how to assist residents of NDG in understanding the access points to their healthcare system following the reform, how we can work with service providers and policy-makers to ensure that their interventions respond to the needs of our diverse population and the importance of expanding these discussions to include physicians as well as other specialists in order to promote a more global vision of health and wellbeing.

Moving forward, the Working Group hopes to draw on the exchanges taking place at the forum to take actions that will lead to an improved access to health and social services for all NDG residents, and in particular to those who face barriers to access for any reason. This report is meant to serve as a resource for anybody who wishes to know more about how they can access healthcare in Quebec as well as to share our practices with professionals who are interested in organizing similar initiatives, or in learning about available resources. People interested in knowing more about the group and our initiatives are encouraged to contact Working Group coordinator Graziella B. Challenger graziellabietochallenger@ndg.ca