Virtual Visits With Your Health Care Provider
Did you know that the Centre de santé communautaire de l’Estrie (CSCE) now offers virtual visits with your health care provider?
Video consultations are a safe and effective alternative to face-to-face appointments. They can be conducted on electronic devices like your cell phone, tablet or computer as long as it’s equipped with a camera and a microphone. Internet access is also required.
During these unprecedented times, when physical distancing is highly recommended, the CSCE is doing its part to reduce the risk of transmission by providing its employees with the necessary tools to continue delivering quality health care services.
To find out if virtual visits are right for you, talk to your health care provider.
Click here to see a video of a virtual visit using Telus PS Suite
To learn more:
https://www.telus.com/fr/health/health-professionals/clinics/emr-add-ons/virtual-visit
Important Notice
Please note that prescription renewal requests must now come from your pharmacy.
To renew your medication, please contact your pharmacy directly and ask them to fax your request to your doctor or nurse practitioner.
Thank you.
Whether in Bourget, Embrun, Crysler, Finch, Maxville, Moose Creek or elsewhere in the region, this initiative continues to be popular and to evolve based on the needs of each community. With the help of many committed volunteers, many boxes with a variety of fruits and vegetables are prepared and sold to new and existing clients each month. The Green Food Box also maintains several partnerships with local food banks, businesses and organizations in order to fight against food insecurity.
What is the Greed Food Box?
The Green Food Box is a non-profit program that brings neighbouring communities together to buy a variety of quality fresh fruits and vegetables at a wholesale price. Available monthly for either $10 or $15 depending on the site you order from, the Green Food Box contains staple produce as well as seasonal favourites.
Please refer to the website to find the location nearest you and for important dates, times and details.
Visit www.greenfoodbox.ca for more information.
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
“I really enjoyed the course I just completed. I learned a lot about self-management, such as how to balance activities, meditation and positive thinking. The instructors are fantastic and act as facilitators by sharing their experience and expertise. This program is definitely worth the effort. The manual will be a tool for me to refer to in the future to refresh my memory as I continue my journey with chronic pain.” [translation]
“Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain” is a six week virtual workshop offered in partnership with Living Healthy Champlain for anyone suffering from pain, which could include but is not limited to: low back pain, pain from motor vehicle accidents, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Anyone can register themselves for a workshop, no referral from a health care professional is needed.
Workshops are highly interactive and offer the Moving Easy Program which is a gentle movement program.
Please note that “Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions” is another very popular six week workshop for anyone with a chronic health condition as well as their family members and/or caregivers. This could include diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, lung disease, and other chronic health issues.
To learn more, visit Living Healthy Champlain.
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
The CSCE is now offering on a regular basis a course based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT is a recognized therapeutic approach designed to help individuals manage distress and emotional reactions.
This virtual educational course helps individuals develop basic skills that will help them overcome everyday challenges. Those who choose to continue with individual therapy feel better equipped. Each session lasts 90 minutes and is offered for a period of eight weeks to groups of about a dozen participants.
Four categories of skills are taught, with both theoretical and practical components, including:
- Mindfulness
- Emotional regulation
- Distress tolerance
- Interpersonal effectiveness
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
Although the focus was on managing the pandemic, the Ministry of Health encouraged Ontario Health teams to continue with their projects or to partner with other approved teams or those in the process of becoming approved.
The Executive Director and members of the management team have been actively involved in three of these projects:
- The Eastern Ottawa Healthcare Team began its activities and focused on providing collaborative responses to COVID-19;
- The Prescott and Russell Healthcare Team, following another rejection of its final submission, is still awaiting direction from the Ministry of Health to initiate the process of partnering with another healthcare team;
- The Cornwall Healthcare Team has partnered with the Greater Winchester Healthcare Team and has been offered the opportunity to make a final submission. The Branch co-chaired the drafting committee for the final submission of the project as a whole. All partners are optimistically awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health and hope to begin their activities in the fall of 2021.
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
While the CSCE does not provide crisis intervention services, not all requests for mental health care are equal and some should be addressed more promptly.
Recognizing that there is a waiting period for therapy services and that some situations carry particular risks, the CSCE team strives to identify the most urgent cases at the time of initial contact to ensure adequate management.
Thanks to the continuous efforts of our psychologist and mental health workers, we have improved our processes for identifying and managing cases with particular risks. This is complex work that requires experience, judgment and knowledge of what studies have shown to be best practices.
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
Staff Recognition
The CSCE would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of several staff members. Congratulations on achieving this milestone!
- 30 years of service: Lynn Cuillerier
- 15 years of service: Lucie Bissonnette, Marc-Rosario Joseph, Julie Lalonde, Lyne Martineau and Marc Therrien
- 10 years of service: Paulo Antunes and Tania Sveistrup
- 5 years of service: Angèle Brunet
Board Recognition
The CSCE would also like to extend its heartfelt thanks to the following outgoing Board members:
- Michel Gratton, Vice-Chairman since September 2019 and member since November 2014 (second term)
- Jean-François Pagé, Chairman of the Board since September 2019 and member since October 2015 (second term)
- Diane Sabourin, member since April 2018 (first term)
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
The CSCE is grateful to have received grants totalling $35,000 from the Social Services Relief Fund and Emergency Community Support Fund, provided by the United Counties of Prescott-Russell and United Way SDG.
To date, these grants have helped the CSCE to:
- Purchase Nordic walking poles to get members of the community moving (when possible) in order to improve their physical condition and break isolation.
- Purchase some equipment for the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program so that clients can continue their treatment at home.
- Provide medical devices to clients with chronic diseases so that they can better manage their health by monitoring vital signs at home (i.e. blood pressure, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, etc.).
- Provide green food boxes to clients who have difficulty eating healthy due to the pandemic, lack of transportation, financial problems, etc.
- Offer a wide range of punctual assistance services to members of the community like medication, essential medical care not covered, housekeeping services, specialized medical equipment, walker or wheelchair rentals, items necessary to meet certain basic needs, gift certificates for groceries, etc.
CSCE Annual Report 2020-2021
The Pap test, or Papanicolaou test, is used to screen for cervical cancer and should be performed every three years for women between the ages of 21 and 70. This is one of the clinical performance indicators in our Multi-Sector Service Accountability Agreements (M-SAAs). In order to improve results for this indicator, nurse practitioners and nurses at the CSCE have set up Pap test clinics, a project based on concepts already implemented and recognized as effective in several clinics, community health centres and family healthcare teams in Ottawa.
Each clinic day allows for approximately 16 clients to be seen for a Pap test. The frequency of these clinics was determined based on the number of providers per site and the target clientele: every two months for the Cornwall site and every three months for the Alexandria, Bourget, Crysler and Limoges sites.
The gynecological exam also helps to diagnose and treat conditions such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), vaginitis, etc. The Pap test clinics, which aim to provide more availability for cervical cancer screening tests at the CSCE, are a proactive way to promote health and prevent the disease from worsening.