The Francophone Affairs Unit of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is hosting the School’s 5^th Francophone Symposium from September 24 – 26, 2015 at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

This symposium will bring together health professionals and community members interested in Francophone health. These symposia are meant to inform, promote networking within the Francophone population, as well as explore questions relating to – and of interest to – the population.

NOSM has a social accountability mandate to contribute to improving the health of the people and communities of Northern Ontario. As such, the School’s Francophone Affairs Unit encourages Anglophone community members to engage in this symposium and as an introduction to the importance of Francophone cultural competency and awareness of Francophone issues as they relate to health care in our region.

In addition, 2015 marks NOSM’s 10^th anniversary! This will provide delegates from across NOSM’s wider campus of Northern Ontario with an opportunity to examine the School’s impact and outcomes on service, education, and research relating to health matters.

During these three days of networking, interactions, exchanges, small-group work, and discussions, the delegates will learn about NOSM’s new Strategic Plan for 2015-2020 and receive updates from both the Francophone Reference Group and the Francophone Affairs Unit.

A list of distinguished speakers will speak at the symposium, including François Boileau, Ontario’s French Language Services Commissioner and Dr. Raymond Tempier from Hôpital Montfort who will speak about his research on linguistic barriers relating to access to psychiatrists.

Saturday will include a special focus on mental health. By way of speakers and a panel of experts, key elements and best practices to support the mental health and well-being of the Francophone population, particularly in Northern Ontario, will be presented.

Delegates will also have an opportunity to attend other special activities:

• The Franco-Ontarian Gala dinner hosted by the ACFO du Grand Sudbury on Thursday, September 24 (tickets sponsored by NOSM)
• The Franco-Ontarian flag raising on Friday, September 25 at the University of Sudbury
• ‘Le French Fest’ presented by La Slague on Friday, September 25, in honour of the 400^th Celebrations and of the 40^th of the Franco-Ontarian flag.

Three full days of sessions will allow for networking opportunities, connecting with friends and colleagues, and learning about the health related issues faced by Francophones in Northern Ontario.

Registration is now open. Please visit nosm.ca/symposiumfrancophone2015 for registration information. If you have questions regarding the event, please contact NOSM’s Francophone Affairs Unit, by email to affaires.francophones@nosm.ca or by telephone at 705-662-7260.

 

PLEASE NOTE: The majority of the sessions will be presented in French. Simultaneous interpretation will be available throughout the symposium in both of Canada’s official languages.

For more information on this symposium, please contact:

 

Danielle Barbeau-Rodrigue
Director, Francophone Affairs
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Email: dbarbeaurodrigue@nosm.ca
Phone: 705-662-7291

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and the NOSM faculty Union (Unit 1 of Ontario Public Service Employees Union [OPSEU] Local 677) are pleased to announce the ratification of their fourth collective agreement, covering full-time faculty, professional librarians, and professional staff at the School.

The faculty Union’s Members voted in favour of the new collective agreement on July 23, 2015. The agreement was ratified by NOSM’s Board of Directors on July 31, 2015.

The agreement covers three years and is in effect from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018. It provides for annual wage increases of 1 % and $1150 in the first year, followed by 1.5 % in the second and 1.75 % in the final year, with provision for Lakehead University and Laurentian University comparator adjustments in years 2 and 3. The agreement also includes enhancements to various components of the benefit package over the three-year agreement as well as a number of other improvements.

Formal negotiations began in February 2015, led by chief negotiators Dr. Hermann Falter (NOSM) and Dr. Geoffrey Hudson (faculty Union). NOSM and its Board of Directors look forward to the continuation of a strong partnership with OPSEU Unit 1, and are appreciative of their Members’ contributions to the School’s vision of Innovative Education and Research for a Healthier North. The faculty Union is committed to its ongoing professional and productive relationship with the Board of Directors.

For more information, kindly contact:

news@nosm.ca

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the School’s Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP) has received full accreditation status from the Dietitians of Canada (DC) until 2022. Thanks to its reputation for high quality of education, NODIP was recently selected by the Dietitians of Canada to be the first post-degree internship of all Canadian dietetic education programs to be assessed using the new Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice (PDEP) Accreditation Standards.

A three-person surveyor team from Dietitians of Canada visited NOSM on May 3-4, 2015. Dietitians of Canada is the national accrediting organization for programs in dietetic education. For NOSM to receive accreditation from DC, the School’s education and training programs must meet nationally established standards. At the conclusion of the site visit, the DC accreditation team applauded both NODIP and its Manager, Denise Raftis’ leadership. The accreditation team reported that NODIP students and preceptors felt engaged, supported, and grateful to be involved in the program.

“Receiving official accreditation from the Dietitians of Canada is recognition that the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program is successfully preparing students for practice. Our students are receiving a high quality education that results in the graduates of our program providing high quality dietetic service to their patients and clients,” said Dr. David Marsh, NOSM Deputy Dean. “The accreditation team was impressed with the morale in all areas of the program. The success of NODIP is a testament to the excellence of NODIP’s staff, preceptors, and dietetic interns.”

NODIP provides students with an opportunity to participate in distributed and community-based experiences. This allows dietetic interns to acquire the range of comprehensive skills preparing them for dietetic practice. With placements across Northern Ontario in locations such as regional and small rural hospitals, public health units, family health teams, and Francophone and Aboriginal communities, students are given insights into the geographic, demographic, and cultural realities of practising in the region.

Since the program accepted its first students in 2007, NODIP has trained 99 dietetic interns in more than 35 communities in the North. Of those, 74 percent have chosen to practice in rural or Northern communities. That means that 64 dietitians are now increasing access to dietetic services in rural and Northern settings that have faced historical shortages.

For more information, please visit: www.nosm.ca/nodip.