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Ontario Disabilities Act
The Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) came into effect in December 2001. The purpose of the Act is to improve opportunities for persons with disabilities and to provide for their involvement in the identification, removal and prevention of barriers that preclude their full participation in society.
The ODA requires Humber River Regional Hospital to:
- prepare an annual accessibility plan
- consult with persons with disabilities in the preparation of this plan
- make the plan public
The plan should provide for continual improvement of access to facilities, policies, programs, practices and services for patients and their family members, staff, health care practitioners, volunteers and members of the community.
The HRRH Accessibility Planning Committee is responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring the Accessibility Plan. This Committee consists of members of the Hospital and outside community. Various members of the committee were selected because of their professional expertise in certain relevant areas (for example: Project Management and Structural Design, Public Relations); and others for their knowledge and experience with persons with disabilities and other health care related issues.
The Committee has also engaged in consultations with members of the hospital community and also conducted a site audit for accessibility with the Ontario March of Dimes. Identified barriers were categorized under seven headings, as per the ODA: Architectural, Attitudinal, Communicational, Informational, Technological, Policy/Practice and Physical.
The completed Accessibility Plan describes the measures that Humber River Regional Hospital has already taken to improve access as well as listing a number of other areas/barriers targeted for improvement/removal in subsequent years. The original Accessibility Plan was finalized and approved in March 2004. The Act requires HRRH to approve and make public an annual plan by September 30 of each year.
The HRRH Accessibility Plan Renewal for September 2005 is now approved and identifies accessibility successes achieved over the previous 12 months. The Plan Renewal also identifies opportunities for improvement to be addressed from October 2005 to September 2006.
Click the following link to view the Humber River Regional Hospital Accessibility Plan Renewal.
The Accessibility Planning Committee will continue to meet to monitor progress and to plan for future years.
At HRRH, we are proud of the successes that have been achieved to date in improving accessibility for our entire internal and external community. We are also deeply committed to continuing to improve access and to engaging our diverse community in that process.