Your experience in caring for a family member or friend can help improve the future interactions of family caregivers with the health and community care system in Ontario.
The Change Foundation has partnered with the Ontario Caregiver Coalition to create The Caring Experience, an outreach project to better understand, and ultimately improve, the experiences of people who provide care or support to someone with a health problem.
Specifically, this project will focus on the interaction between family caregivers like you, and the health and community care system.
Sign up today at www.thecaringexperience.ca , to join one of two November 24th ‘Open Lines’ Town Hall sessions to learn more about the project! This cross-provincial telephone forum is easily accessible to everyone through a toll free phone line. This is your chance to learn more about the project and ask questions. By signing up today, you can submit your questions in advance.
Choose from one of two sessions: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
We encourage you to sign up, however you can join us at the last minute by calling directly into the Town Hall on the date and times above via 1-877-229-8493 passcode: 114792
If you have any questions, or are having trouble signing up, please contact Catherine Monk-Saigal at caringexperience@changefoundation.com or 1-844-454-0107 (toll free).
We understand that your time is limited, so there will be many different ways that you can participate in this project – over the phone, online and in person. There will also be ways for you to see the progress of the project through www.thecaringexperience.ca.website. Everyone who signs up will be asked to respond to 3 or 4 mini online surveys. Some people will also be personally invited to participate in small-group Family Caregivers Reflections workshops or in documenting their family caregiving experience over a 5-day period.
We will be taking all the information we hear to create a report that highlights the themes of what we heard while maintaining everyone’s confidentiality. Personal stories will only be used with explicit consent.
The Change Foundation (TCF) is an independent health policy think-tank that is changing the debate, practice, and experience of Ontario’s health care system. TCF was created in 1995 through an endowment from the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). With a firm commitment to listening to and learning from the voices of patients, family caregivers, health and community care providers, The Change Foundation is committed to enhancing patient and caregiver experiences and the quality of health care in the province. The Caring Experience project is integral to TCF’s new strategic plan, Out of the Shadows and Into the Circle, Partnering with family caregivers to shift Ontario’s health care system, launched in March 2015.
The Ontario Caregiver Coalition (OCC) was established in 2009 and has grown from just under 30 members at that time to almost 80 organizations and individual caregivers in 2015. OCC members represent a diverse and broad cross-section of the 1 in 4 Ontarians who are caregivers. The mission of OCC states: “The Ontario Caregiver Coalition is dedicated to recognizing the importance of unpaid caregivers in Ontario by raising awareness of the value they add to the health care system, and by advocating for improved, fair access to needed supports.” OCC strives to be the ‘voice’ of caregivers in the province.
The Change Foundation is committed to making this project accessible to everyone. Let us know if you need financial support for transportation, respite or childcare, interpretation, or if you have any other accessibility requirements, by contacting Catherine Monk-Saigal at caringexperience@changefoundation.com or 416-205-1579 (local) or 1-844-454-0107 (toll-free).
Join our project TODAY!