Connexions AGM in Shawville

Reuel S. Amdur

The Connexions Annual General Meeting was held on June 26 at the St. Paul Anglican Church hall in Smithville.  Smithville is home to one of two Connexions satellite offices.  At the meeting the new board was chosen.  Danielle Lenyi is a nonvoting member because of her position as Executive Director.  Chairing is Ruth Wiliams. Other board members are Adriana Saenz, John Mynott, and Caitin Capisi.

Nicole Boucher-Larivière, Director of the Réseau local de services du Pontiac, Centre intégré de santé et de services de l’Outaouais, was the guest speaker.  She identified Pontiac’s key problem as a shortage of resources, in particular of health professionals.  Her approach to addressing this problem is to coordinate existing resources to address given issues.  One such issue being addressed in this way is palliative care.  Other matters being addressed include healthy aging and school transitions.  She finds Connexions to be an important ally in this promotion of collaboration.

Boucher-Larivière mentioned the Allo project, providing help to unilingual Anglophones.  A yellow tag identifies the helper who can help in English.  Promoting this service is a work in progress.

To address the shortage of health care professionals, at least in part, there is a student bursary program.  Those who receive a bursary must spend at least two years working in Pontiac.