NHS Accessibility Plan - 2006-2007
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The purpose of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is to improve opportunities for people with disabilities and to provide for their involvement in the identification, removal and prevention of barriers to their full participation in the life of the province. To this end, the Act requires each hospital to prepare an annual accessibility plan; to consult with persons of disabilities in the preparation of the plan; and to make the plan public.
This is the fourth annual plan (2006-2007) prepared by the Accessibility Steering Committee (ASC) of the Niagara Health System also referred to as NHS. The plan describes:
- The measures that the Niagara Health System has taken in the past year.
- The measures that the Niagara Health System will take during the next year to identify, remove and prevent barriers to people with disabilities who live, work in or use our facilities and services, including patients and their family members, staff, health care practitioners, volunteers and members of the community.
This year, the Niagara Health System continued its commitment to the continual improvement of access to hospital facilities, policies, programs, practices, and services; the participation of persons with disabilities in the development and review of its annual accessibility plans; and the provision of quality services to all patients, their family members and members of the community with disabilities.
In the first year, the NHS formed the Accessibility Steering Committee (ASC) along with three working groups, Communication/Information/Technology; Physical/Architectural; Attitudinal/Policy & Practice. The ASC met to establish the methodologies by which barriers would be identified within the NHS and the communication strategies for the collection of information and education regarding the plan.
In year two, a comprehensive barrier audit was conducted of all eight sites of the NHS identifying all barrier types. Each working group reviewed their audit results and began to map out a plan to address and prioritize each identified barrier.
In the third year, the NHS continued to work on implementation of next step responses to identified barriers. Through the work of the ASC and the working groups, efforts were made to address issues from barrier audits conducted at our sites. The working groups prioritized barriers and began the necessary activities required to reduce and prevent them. Redesign of print materials is underway and initiatives to produce a fully standards-compliant website are complete. Purchase of barrier-free equipment and hardware including door handles, bed lifts, etc., and ongoing education of staff, volunteers and physicians have been key components of the Plan this year.
In November 2005, a presentation by legal counsel outlining the legislative requirements of AODA was made to the Accessibility Steering Committee, Working Groups, Human Resources staff and Senior Team members.
The fourth year will see the NHS continue to work towards a barrier-free environment.
Activities of the Physical / Architectural Working Group in the previous year include continued prioritization of the Barrier Audit recommendations, development of a Construction Checklist, and recommendations to improve accessibility for washrooms at various sites.
Washrooms were considered a priority because of the degree of independence people wish to feel in caring for themselves and because there is a higher risk of injury associated with older washroom design that limits accessibility. The recommendations for the next year will focus on providing a minimum of one accessible public and one accessible patient washroom per hospital wing.
Along with prioritizing washrooms, other physical and architectural barriers are being reviewed. In addition to this, monitoring will continue to ensure that other construction, renovation and maintenance activities follow recommendations made by the ASC and Working Groups to prevent barriers in future.
Development, approval and implementation of Standards and Guidelines related to printed materials will play a key role in the elimination of barriers in our communications. At the NHS, all departments and programs develop their own communication and information materials. Standards and Guidelines are the most effective way to improve the capability of staff when producing materials for distribution. The NHS also makes available to the public, information that is provided by outside agencies (ie. Cancer Care of Ontario). The content and/or format of these external print pieces are not within the control of the NHS and for that reason any Standards and Guidelines used by the NHS, will not apply.
A new standards-compliant website was launched in April 2006 that will allow users to view the site in a text-only format and/or resize text to suit their needs. In addition, the website can be used with assistive user-agents such as screen readers, and provision of this technology is a significant achievement for the NHS in supporting accessibility. In order to remain at the forefront of web accessibility, the NHS has also made a commitment to ongoing monitoring of the website to ensure compliance.
Feedback from staff included a desire to learn more regarding the AODA. A first step in this process was the development and publication of information points in Round Up, an internal newsletter, in June of this year. Other feedback from staff included a request for information to improve their awareness of how to best provide care and services to individuals with a disability. Work has begun gathering this information from advocacy organizations and will continue in the next year. The plan is to distribute this information to staff/volunteers/physicians in a variety of ways and retaining the information on an internal computer network for easy reference.
There have been a number of educational initiatives undertaken at the NHS aimed at assisting staff in the prevention and/or response to a variety of situations. These include resolving conflict, building an environment of trust, responding to complaints, job interviewing skills and giving/receiving feedback. The intent is to provide an overall improvement in customer service to all patients which in turn will impact accessibility.
The NHS has also developed and distributed its Workplace Relations Policy this year. The Workplace Relations Policy includes a specific reference to the AODA and draws attention to the requirements to prevent inappropriate actions or behaviours related to individuals with disabilities. The implementation of this policy included staff education sessions.
Terms of Reference for the Physical/Architectural Working Group and the Information/ Communication/Technological Working Group have been submitted and approved by the Accessibility Steering Committee. Terms of Reference for the Attitudinal/Policy & Practice Working Group are expected to be finalized in the near future.
Aim:
This plan describes: (1) the measures that the Niagara Health System (NHS) has taken in the past year, and (2) the measures that the NHS will take during the next year to identify, remove and prevent barriers to people with disabilities who live, work in or use the hospital, including patients and their family members, staff, health care practitioners, volunteers and members of the community.
Objectives:
This plan:
- Reviews commitments made in the third annual plan (2005-2006).
- Summarizes the evaluation of the barrier audits and additional prioritization of activities.
- Identifies the activities that have been completed to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility within the NHS, and plans for the coming year.
- Describes how the NHS will make the accessibility plan available to the public.
Steering Committee Membership:
- John Cox, Senior Consultant, Human Resources
- Franca Hoda, Chief Human Resources Officer
- Gloria Kain, Capital Redevelopment Officer
- Jo Ann Mattei, Community Relations & Communications, Webmaster (Co-chair)
- Debbie Smith, Health Program Director
- Rita Strickland, Occupational Health Consultant (Co-chair)
For More Information:
Click HERE to open a PDF version of the complete plan.
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Alternatively, the complete plan, in various formats (Audio, Braille, Large Print), is available upon request via email to: webmaster@niagarahealth.on.ca or by calling 905-378-4647, Ext. 32424.