Every One Matters.

Working together for a healthy community

Centretown Community Health CentreAnnual Report 2013–2014

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What a fulfilling year at the Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC) with its share of challenges and amazing achievements!

A big thank you to all our staff and volunteers in recognition that it’s their passion, heart and dedication that helps us face trials thrown our way and take on opportunities that will make a difference for our community. We also recognize the very skilled and dedicated board members who provided excellent leadership and direction over the past year.

New and exciting fundingThree years ago, we knew we needed more space to meet our community’s needs. We listened to suggestions and concerns, and are thrilled to be staying where we are! Thanks to new funding from both the province and the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), we’ll be improving and expanding our space over the coming years.

The Centre also received new sustainable funding from the Champlain LHIN to improve services for immigrants and high risk populations to screen for chronic disease, for trans community seeking primary care in Ottawa and through our CHC partners and for expanded primary care seniors outreach.

Excellence from withinThis past year, we fully transitioned to a new electronic health record system. Like any big

change, this came with some challenges and we appreciate everyone’s patience during this transition.

On our continued path to service excellence, we’re well on our way to achieve French language designation. This will ensure quality services to our Francophone communities. We’re also close to completing work to receive accreditation from the Canadian Centre for Accreditation. And thanks to hours and hours devoted by our dedicated board and committee members, we developed a Quality Improvement Plan. This is part of Health Quality Ontario reporting standards and includes goals and targets to ensure our continued improvement.

Celebrating our achievements in the communityWe’re proud of being a strong voice on important issues that affect our community, especially for those who face multiple barriers to good health and well-being.

Over the past year we continued to speak out in favour of harm reduction by encouraging more public education on the importance of providing such services to those with complex mental health and addictions issues. We also led an effort with other community health and resource centres, to successfully prompting the City of Ottawa to consider the health impacts of expanding access to gambling. Many members of the community wrote to us, called our phone lines and even

Celebrating a year of achievements A word from the board president and executive director

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had the courage to speak to media and city councillors to share their stories on the impact of gambling on their lives and that of their families.

We continue to advocate against cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program which funds health care for refugees to Canada.

Our belief is that good health is not just about access to doctors, drugs and hospitals. It’s also the environment where we live, grow and age. That’s why we support access to healthy and affordable food through initiatives like the Ottawa Good Food Markets, community gardens and the Ottawa Good Food Box.

Along with everyone involved in the Make a Park for People project to improve Dundonald Park, we’ve proudly accepted the 8-80 Cities Community Leadership Award recognizing our leadership as a local city-builder in creating a happy and healthy community. The park has truly become a much more vibrant place to be in the last few years.

Looking forwardThe year to come will be a busy and exciting one as we embark on a three year plan to expand and renovate. The Centre and the community have shown time and again that they can come together and manage change, especially change that will improve access to important health and social services in our community.

Cathy Doolan, board presidentSimone Thibault, executive director

420 Cooper Street Ottawa, ON K2P 2N6 centretownchc.org Tel: 613-233-4443 TTY: 613-233-0651

Get in touch.

Board of Directors – Isabelle Lamontagne (secretary), Wynn Quon (vice-president), Tong Zhao-Ansari, Kelsey Klaver, Linda Wilson, Tamsyn Farr, Sarah Brown (staff rep), Danielle Labelle (staff rep.), Jean Pascal Beaudoin, Tracey Donaldson, Simone Thibault (executive director), Jeff Morrison (past-president), Cathy Doolan (president), John Fletcher, Holly Wagg (treasurer), June Webber

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Together for healthy people, healthy communities Every One Matters.

“Prompt appointments, don’t wait long, access to care in a timely manner.”

What our clients say...

“I am considered a human being and not a number.”

“Everything I need is in one spot and under the same roof.”

“Everyone cares. They remember my name, they understand my mental health issues.”

Overall satisfaction for clients who receive services in English.

Overall satisfaction for clients who receive services in French.

Clients who said we have a welcoming and safe environment for themselves or their family.

Highlights from our client survey

95%

99%

98%

Clients who would recommend Centretown CHC to others.

95%“Feel welcome.”

“The strong sense of inclusion — all are welcome and none are judged.”

“The way staff coordinated to suit my specific needs.”

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What volunteers like about their experience...

We couldn’t do it without help from our 239 volunteers who dedicated over 13,298 hours this past year.

“Love having the opportunity to be involved in so many different activities in one place!”

“Making connections in my community as a newcomer.”

“The cultural diversity provided me with such a different perspective on various aspects of cultural integration and life in general. Overall, it was a great experience!”

“Being given the benefit of the doubt that I could do the tasks assigned. Before volunteering I had been looking for employment and found that no one wanted to hire someone with limited sight.”

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Advocacy Promoting social change. Enhancing people and communities’ health and well-being

+ The Ottawa Good Food Box is a key partner in the Ottawa Good Food Markets, who bring fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables to underserved areas.

+ Facilitated and convened the Where’s the Food in Centretown, a report on food security in our community.

+ Chairing the newly launched Ottawa Food Policy Council.

+ Ontario social assistance review: support community members to attend Ottawa consultation who shared concerns that increases to Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program were at the expense of other funding like the special diet allowance.

+ Campaigned to significantly increase the minimum wage and develop a formula so it’s indexed to a measure of basic living costs and provides a buffer against inflation.

+ Along with 8-80 Cities, released the Dundonald Park Make a Place for People Project report containing revitalization ideas from the community.

+ Supported Ecology Ottawa’s campaign for the City of Ottawa to adopt a complete streets policy approach and a funded implementation plan.

Volunteers and staff advocating for a higher minimum wage in Ontario.

Push for a social determinants of health approach to health and well-being

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+ Refugee Health National Day of action on Parliament Hill.

+ Leading the local effort to break down barriers by engaging the trans* community and helping build ours and other organizations’ capacity for culturally appropriate health and wellness services.

+ Served on the new Baby Friendly Initiative Provincial Implementation Strategy to improve support for breastfeeding in Ontario.

+ Campaigned along with the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres calling to renew the Federal Health Accord.

8-80 Cities’ 2014 Community Leadership Award “The Doable Community” awarded to the Dundonald Park Community

+ Deputation at the Ottawa Board of Health: Ottawa needs an integrated strategy that includes harm reduction.

+ Deputation at the Finance and Economic Development Committee (FEDCO): say no to a casino or if expansion goes forward, put in place measures to mitigate harm.

+ Petition: engage Ottawa residents who don’t want a casino expansion in their city, or put in place measures to mitigate harm if expansion goes ahead.

+ Press conference, media interviews: consider the health factors to a casino expansion in Ottawa.

Building Capacity for GLBTTQ Youth Mental Health received CHEO’s Health Advocacy and Public Education Award!

Breaking down barriers to access to quality health services

Push for a harm reduction approach to addiction services

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Quality care and services Provide high-quality programs and services

We remain committed to improving access to health and wellness services for all.

Efficient, effective, responsiveWe transitioned to a new electronic health record system. It’s been a bumpy road and it affected our efficiency and impacted clients’ timely access to services. One of the advantages of this new tool is its current and potential ability to link with other parts of the healthcare system so that lab results and visits to hospital are seamlessly communicated to our client records. This way, our staff will optimize their delivery of the best possible care and services to our clients. And starting in January 2013, primary care organizations were required by the Ontario Government to develop quality improvement plans as part of the Excellent Care for All Act. This provides a meaningful way for us to clearly articulate our commitment to quality to our community, clients, volunteers and staff.

Breaking down barriersWe remain committed to improving access to health and wellness services for all. We are working on our French Language Designation and increased services offered to Francophones. This year, our centre’s

health equity team focused on the needs of newcomers to Canada. They provided leadership to better understand their specific needs at various stages after their arrival, the barriers they face and identified ways to better address those needs.

Improving transitions of careWithin our centre, our primary care and social services teams are working together on an approach to share care management duties for mutual clients. Beyond the centre, we’re working on primary care outreach and mapping services for vulnerable seniors with complex needs. This initiative led by the South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre involves front-line staff from five local agencies. We’re also working with local health providers from hospitals, family health teams and community health centres on the Health Links project to address the complex needs of high users of health care services. Lastly, we presented ideas to improve case management, staff training on working with complex clients and data sharing at a Community Care Access Centre’s board of directors meeting.

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+ Yoga for Stress Relief

+ Smoking cessation and counseling with free nicotine replacement therapy

+ Champlain SCREEN Program to assess and support immigrants and other high risk populations with chronic conditions

+ Immigrant Youth Employment Program: youth-led program to help youth find summer jobs in collaboration with Youth Services Bureau

+ Weekly support, education, playgroup and nursing outreach at the Taggart YMCA-YWCA family shelter

+ Central Intake System for all diabetes education programs in Ottawa

+ Chiropody program expansion and reorganization to meet the increased demand for people with diabetes who require footcare

+ SMART Recovery: an addiction recovery support group

+ Bridge to Integration for Newcomers to Canada program

+ Cool Kids Cooking March Break Program

+ Falls prevention programs for seniors

Gay Zone’s five year anniversary was a great celebration with testimonials from clients, volunteers and community leaders.

We’re constantly adapting and expanding what we do. Some new things we did this year:

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Organizational capacity Adapting our workplace for a healthy organization

The Community Diabetes Education Program of Ottawa was especially busy this year!

Champlain Local Health Integration Network

Ministry of Health andLong-Term Care

+ Over 3 million dollars in funding for a capital project to expand and improve our space. Among many benefits, we’ll not only have more space, but become more accessible too.

+ $150,000 increase to our base funding going towards rent costs for our expanded space

+ Funding to develop health equity modules + Funding for our trans health initiative + Funding for the new Diabetes Central Intake for

all Ottawa area diabetes programs + Ongoing funding for the Champlain SCREEN

program to assess and screen at-risk and immigrant communities

+ 91 % would recommend CCHC as a place to work

+ 92 % say that on the whole, they are satisfied with their job

+ 91 % agree that their immediate supervisor/manager can be counted on to help with a difficult task at work

+ 89 % are satisfied with the support they get from their work colleagues

+ 85 % know where to get information to enable them to do their job safely

+ 88 % agree that teamwork and collaboration is recognized and encouraged.

+ Chiropodists regularly train local primary care and diabetes health professionals to assess the feet of people with diabetes to prevent amputation

+ The team participated in many outreach events in the community including two events to mark Community Health and Wellness Week

+ Supported the Ottawa Heart Institute controlled trial on the use of a smoking cessation model in diabetes education programs

+ Supported a Health Quality Ontario study on diabetes education

+ Collaborated with the Canadian Diabetes Education to organize Striking a Balance: Weigh in with Knowledge, Research, Practice an event for health providers

Highlights from our staff survey

We’re growing and improving. Some new funding we received this year:

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Working together to enhance health and wellness

+ Working with the Ottawa School Readiness Committee as part of the Growing Up Great initiative to give children the best start.

+ Offered training to formal and informal caregivers on having difficult conversations with parents and how to use screening tools to measure school readiness and nutrition.

+ Presented at the Best Start Resource Centre conference on implementing the Baby-friendly Initiative and breastfeeding support.

+ Physicians at the centre continue to develop and adapt the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strength (CANS) tool.

+ The Ottawa Seniors Pride Network delivered cultural competence training to hundreds of people in a variety of health care settings.

+ Community developers from our centre and community members presented their success working on the Dundonald Park Make a Place for People Project at the Crime Prevention Ottawa conference Community Solutions: Beautification today, safe tomorrow.

+ Attended the Rainbow Health Ontario Creating Change Together 2014 conference.

+ Attended the Educating the Educator conference organized by the AIDS Committee Ottawa.

+ Attended the Issues of Substance national conference organized by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

Our MPP Yasir Naqvi, Champlain LHIN officials, staff, board and community members attended our capital funding announcement. Sharing the good news about our renovations and expansion.

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Here at the centre, every one matters. But we pay special attention to people and communities who are vulnerable or at-risk.

In our neighbourhood, that includes young children and their families. Evidence suggests that local children are entering school lacking some skills that affects their ability to succeed. To help, we’ve increased outreach services, including activities like a playgroup and nursing outreach geared to families staying at the Taggart YMCA-YWCA shelter. We’re also leaders involved with the School Readiness Task Group, which among its goals aims to help raise parents’ confidence and knowledge to support their child’s development. This group

also created a tool for parents so they can easily find local resources to support healthy child development.

Through a partnership with CHEO, we continue to pilot a program that offers specialty paediatric services to marginalized clients. By offering this program in a community setting, services are delivered in a more meaningful and accessible way.

The Ottawa Senior Pride Network continues its important work on both the educational and social fronts. They host social activities like the Vintage Queer Dance to build a connection with LGBT seniors community in Ottawa. The

Social capital Building communities’ ability to take control of what influences their health and well-being

Local youth designed and painted the mural to prevent graffiti in our parking garage. Here they are with local leaders at its launch.

Engaging priority communities to address specific needs and issues

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Agree or strongly agree that by coming to (or being involved with) the centre has impacted their health/well-being (or that of their child).

Coordination of care with other services, organizations and places in the community.

Agree or strongly agree that they learned more about other resources in the community because of their contact with us.

Ottawa Seniors Pride Network also delivered many cultural competence training aimed at staff who work with seniors. They presented information about LGBT aging, making the case that treating everyone the same can unintentionally exclude people.

This year, we’ve also made considerable efforts to improve health and wellness services for trans*. We’ve helped support fellow health providers by offering training, education and supports to build capacity around culturally appropriate services. The centre also hosts a trans* health program that engages trans* with all local community health centres and offers them hormone assessment and referrals, among other services.

With health equity as one of our priorities for the year, the centre also helped newcomers to Canada, including refugees and immigrants, adjust to life here. We’ve offered programs like Bridges to Integration in partnership with the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) where newcomers learn about the stages of resettlement, develop skills to cope with change and stress as well as finding out about Canadian systems. And the Community Diabetes Education Program of Ottawa (CDEPO) provided education and support to people of muslim faith so they can manage their diabetes well through Ramadan.

Thanks to funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we’ve helped expand a pilot project with eight organizations to improve health equity for immigrants. The centre co-led phase one with the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP) to support mainstream organizations in becoming more inclusive and welcoming to immigrants.

Highlights from our client survey

80%

92%

89%

Said staff helps clients realise the impact of everyday activities like diet and lifestyle on health and well-being.

84%

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Social capital (continued)Building communities’ ability to take control of what influences their health and well-being

Our communities, our neighbourhoods affect our health and wellbeing. That’s why one of the centre’s goals is to help improve the places where we live, learn, work and play.

Improving community safety and security is among those goals. As part of that goal, we worked with our landlord and sponsors to create a mural in our parking garage, a place that tended to invite less than desirable activities, including persistent graffiti. The mural was designed and painted by local youth living at risk in the neighbourhood. Not only did it help create a more vibrant and safe place, it also helped connect youth with important resources, including apprenticeship programs. A few of the youth involved were also interviewed by CBC radio to share their experience.

This year, the Dundonald Park Make a Place for People project released a report highlighting the communities’ ideas to help make the park a more vibrant and safe place for all to use. Thanks in great part to community member-led initiatives, the park

has become a far more vibrant place with an influx of activities including the now annual Spring into Fun celebration. Community members and local agencies also participate in monthly meetings to plan activities and exchange ideas. They also use the group’s Facebook page to request repairs and to

share ideas and photos.

Build civic engagement

A healthy community is also one where there is wide participation of its residents in decision making. To support that goal, we held the Resident Leadership Training series for a second year in a row and graduated eight community

members. This is a six week skill building series where participants attend to improve their leadership in their communities. Delivered and designed by staff, this was also supported by placement students and more experienced advocates from our Grassroots Group, a local community engagement group supported by the centre.

With voter turnout on the decline since the late 1970s, the Coalition of Community

We are working in low-income neighbourhoods across the city to increase voter turnout.

Increase collaboration to build safe and vibrant neighbourhoods

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Health and Resource Centres, which includes our centre, and the City for All Women Initiative have joined forces to put in a place a three-year project called Making Votes Count Where We Live. Thanks to funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation, we are working in low-income neighbourhoods

across the city to increase voter turnout. We also trained women who held focus groups and interviews to identify barriers to voting. Over 200 people, including Aboriginal people, Francophones, recent immigrants, people with disabilities, seniors and youth, shared their experience which were included in a report published in March 2014.

Women from the City for All Women Initiative holding signs listing strategies to improve voter turnout at the Making Votes Count Where We Live report launch.

This year, SCREEN Champlain - Chronic Disease Risk Assessment & Screening for At-Risk and Immigrants Communities, worked with and provided screening events, education about the Canadian health care system and referrals to people in these communities:

ArabicChineseFrench speakers of African origin

NepaleseSomaliSouth Asian Spanish

Did you know? Immigrants have a higher risk of chronic disease like diabetes.

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A balanced bottom line Report of the independent auditor on the summary financial statements

To the Members of Centretown Community Health Centre Inc.

The accompanying summary financial statements, which comprise the summary statement of financialposition as at March 31, 2014 and the summary statement of operations for the year then ended and the related note, are derived from the complete audited financial statements of Centretown Community Health Centre Inc. for the year ended March 31, 2014. We expressed an unmodified audit opinion on those financial statements in our report dated June 10, 2014.

The summary financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required by Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations. Reading the summary financial statements, therefore, is not a substitute for reading the complete audited financial statements of Centretown Community Health Centre Inc.

Management’s Responsibility for the Summary Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation of a summary of the audited financial statements on

the basis described in Note 1 to the summarized financial statements.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the summary financial statements based on our procedures, which were conducted in accordance with Canadian Auditing Standard (CAS) 810, “Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.”

Opinion

In our opinion, the summarized financial statements derived from the complete audited financial statements of Centretown Community Health Centre Inc. for the year ended March 31, 2014 are a fair summary of those financial statements, on the basis described in Note 1 to the summary financial statements.

Chartered Accountants, Licensed Public AccountantsOttawa, OntarioJune 10, 2014

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2014 2013

Grants $ 11,844,452 $ 11,202,514 Interest $ 11,971 $ 5,368

Donations $ 10,018 $ 5,867 Other $ 388,820 $ 358,761 Amortization of deferred grants $ 426,034 $ 285,447 Total Revenue $ 12,681,295 $ 11,857,957

Revenue

2014 2013

Salaries and benefits $ 8,586,232 $ 9,031,798 Program costs $ 1,338,297 $ 960,717 Occupancy costs $ 944,112 $ 932,534 General and administration $ 99,640 $ 100,991 Amortization of capital assets $ 426,034 $ 285,447 Total Expenses $ 11,394,315 $ 11,311,487 Net revenue before items below $ 1,286,980 $ 546,470 Repayable to the government $ -130,042 $ -495,088 Transferred to deferred revenue $ -1,039,648 $ 26,577 Net Revenue $ 117,290 $ 77,959

Expenses

Statement of operations | Years ended March 31, 2014 and 2013

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Current Assets 2014 2013

Cash $ 2,926,672 $ 2,219,544 Accounts Receivables $ 309,328 $ 290,067

Prepaid Expenses $ 63,868 $ 21,927 Investments $ 431,694 154,632 $ 3,731,562 $ 2,686,170

Investments $ - $ 276,770

Capital Assets $ 220,496 $ 551,039

$ 3,952,058 $ 3,513,979

Assets

A balanced bottom line Statement of operations | Years ended March 31, 2014 and 2013

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Current Liabilities 2014 2013

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 885,469 $ 797,869 Repayable to government $ 447,189 $ 917,383 Deferred contributions $ 1,157,240 $ 117,592 $ 2,489,898 $ 1,832,844

Deferred Capital Grants $ 220,496 $ 551,039

Net AssetsRestricted funds $ 528,060 $ 436,686 Unrestricted funds $ 713,604 $ 693,410

$ 1,241,664 $ 1,130,096

$ 3,952,058 $ 3,513,979

Liabilities and Net Assets

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Promote social change to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

Social capital.Build the capacity of communities to take control of the factors influencing their health and well-being.

Provide high-quality programs and services.

Organizational capacity.Continually adapt our workplace to strengthen the health of the organization.

Vision. Healthy, caring, inclusive communities where every one matters.

Mission. We lead the way in improving health and well-being for people and communities.

We believe in recognizing and respecting diversity among people in our communities to provide them with appropriate services that meet their varying needs. We strive to break down barriers so everyone can enjoy access to the services they need to be healthy. Equity is about recognizing differences among people and treating people differently according to their needs in order to achieve equality of access.

Empowerment.We value participation and believe in our clients’ and communities’ right to play an active role in determining what services are offered and how they are delivered. To achieve this, we foster open and constructive dialogue and believe in engaging in respectful, honest and clear communications practices. We strive to provide all the support and information required to make informed choices and participate in meaningful ways.

We are committed to providing excellent services and strive for constant improvement and innovation. We focus on best practices, evidence-based approaches and ongoing evaluation to deliver effective and comprehensive services that best meet our clients’ and communities’ needs. We ensure accountable, efficient and effective use of resources.

Respect.We’re committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone is treated in ways that are fair, courteous and compassionate. We believe in valuing one another’s opinions and contributions and giving full consideration to these views with an open and non-judgmental mind.

Our strategic plan 2012-2017

Our Values

Strategic Directions