French language pilot project at northern med school

Last September, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine launched a pilot project to help address healthcare inequities in the North.

Officials at NOSM said the Francophone curricular initiative allows students to complete some of their mandatory MD training in French -- in turn helping to break down language barriers to medical care.

Dr. Nicole Ranger is a graduate of NOSM University. She's been a Francophone family physician for five years in the north and is also the lead of the Francophone curricular at NOSM.

"We need to recognize that language is a determinant of health,” Ranger said.

“And when patients poorly understand communication ongoing between a provider, they might not always understand the instructions that are provided to them there might be some confusion.”

Felix Lavigne is from Timiskaming Shores and is his second year of medical school. He said allowing a patient to speak in their first language can make any medical encounter a better one.

"Medicine is its own language,” Lavigne said.

“So when you are working with interpreters, it's a little but harder. There is always that comfortable level that you want to gain with your patient. So if you are bilingual and fluent in French and English, it makes an encounter a lot easier and a lot more comfortable for the patient."

Upon graduation, Lavigne wants to work in a Francophone community somewhere in northern Ontario and said he values the learning opportunities in French.

Felix Lavigne is from Timiskaming Shores and is his second year of medical school. He said allowing a patient to speak in their first language can make any medical encounter a better one. (Alana Everson/CTV News)

"We have these terminology sessions but we also have structured clinical sessions in French,” he said.

“So we have Francophone preceptors and Francophone patients.”

Ranger said training new doctors in French will increase equitable access to health care across the region including newcomers to northern Ontario.

"We have an emergent immigrant population whose first official language spoken is French,” Ranger said.

“And so there is a crying need for Francophone healthcare providers including physicians.”

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Officials at NOSM University said the facility has always had a social accountability mandate to be responsive to the population of northern Ontario.