Creating authentic partnerships, conducting thoughtful and robust engagement, and co-design are core principles of meaningful patient, family, and caregiver participation in integrated health initiatives. As an Ontario Health Team, one of our goals is to bring an equitable, diverse and inclusive representation of community members to the table to work together in improving the quality of healthcare and the patient experience in our region.
As we plan our community engagement, we are starting by using the State of Community Engagement (SoCE) assessment initiative. This project is designed to help us develop an understanding of the existing community engagement structures and experiences amongst our health and social services partners at the outset. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that their people and perspectives become part of engagement process itself
The State of Community Engagement (SoCE) protocol was created jointly by the Impact fellows at four Ontario Health Teams and was made possible through the collaboration of our colleagues in the Burlington, Mississauga and KW4 (Kitchener Waterloo) OHTs.
As the lead of the protocol, we are piloting the tool across our OHT this summer. We anticipate that SoCE will help our OHT and others understand:
We look forward to establishing relationships while opening this important conversation across OHT partners, and working with you to engage with patients, families, caregivers, clients and providers across the region.
Participation in the SoCE pilot includes:
If you are a health or social service provider whose organization carries out community engagement, and would like more information about this opportunity please contact:
Natalie Dimitra Montgomery, PhD
OHT Impact Fellow, Lanark Leeds Grenville