North York General launches Language Services
North York General, with the philanthropic support of Scotiabank, has launched its Language Services Kiosk to better serve its diverse community of over 400,000 residents in North Toronto and beyond.
For the past 45 years, North York General has been a beacon to all residents of North York in need of the highest quality medical care. Our hospital's mission to provide exceptional health care to our diverse communities is enabled by our newly developed diversity framework which allows us to focus on4 components of diversity: cultural competence, spiritual and religious competence, organizational integration and accessibility.
The health needs of each patient and family we serve are influenced by their unique cultural practices and traditions. More than 54% of residents living in the catchment area of North York General do not use French or English as their first language.
As part of the diversity framework, and through the support of Scotiabank, North York General now offers the Scotiabank Language Services Kiosk. Visitors, patients and family members to the hospital will have access to the kiosk upon arrival. The touch screen kiosk will provide information about the clinical areas in the Hospital, along with directions to those areas in the top 7 languages spoken by our patients and families (English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Korean, Persian, and Farsi). Equipped with a printer, the kiosk can provide a printed copy of the information as well as directions to the departments, helping to guide the patients and visitors to their destination. This is one of the many ways that North York General is putting patients first in everything we do.
The aligns with our Patient and Family-Centred Care initiatives, and our approach to the planning, delivery and evaluation of health care partnerships among patients, families and health care providers.