Strategies to improve French language health and social service continuity for seniors in Ontario and Manitoba

Access to health and social services in one’s official language of choice is an important component of quality and safety of care for seniors. Access can be fragmented, even in the context of legislation guaranteeing the right to receive such services, and in areas with a higher proportion of bilingual providers. Using a community-based participatory approach, we identified mechanisms promoting or impeding the clinical integration of health and social French language services intended for seniors living in two Canadian Francophone minority communities. Thirteen recommendations highlight the possibility for new initiatives to promote a continuum of French language health and social services in a minority context, involving collaboration among a variety of actors at all levels of our analytical framework: service trajectory (providers); francophone communities; organizational; political and regulatory; and symbolic (values) structures. Keywords: seniors, linguistic minorities, service integration, health and social services, continuity of care