As this April 7 marks the 75th World Health Day, we would like to highlight the essential contribution of the charitable health sector in Quebec.
Did you know that there is a group of charitable organizations that represents 400 health conditions affecting nearly 90% of the Quebec population?
In fact, HealthPartners brings together 17 Quebec charitable organizations that act with a view to local health by deploying programs and field services to a very large number of Quebecers.
Our organizations serve vulnerable people with serious and chronic illnesses: Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and stroke, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, dystrophy muscle, cystic fibrosis, liver disease, hemophilia, Huntington’s disease, mental health, Parkinson’s disease, lung disease, kidney disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
As we all know, Quebec’s health and social services network has been operating under constant pressure for decades, a situation that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is important to point out that the health care ecosystem in Quebec works in particular thanks to many efforts that are deployed outside the network.
According to a 2021 study by Abacus, people with chronic and serious illnesses say that it has become even more crucial in this post-pandemic period to use charitable organizations to supplement the services of the health and social services network which is overwhelmed throughout Quebec.
This situation concerns us all, because if they do not affect you directly, our services certainly benefit members of your family, relatives, some of your friends or work colleagues.
As a society, it is therefore crucial that we acquire the means to improve the field health services offered by charitable organizations in Quebec to ensure their sustainability. Since these organizations are players in complementary solutions to the services offered by the government, their sustainability has an impact on that of the health network.
This is why we are calling on our public decision-makers to recognize the essential contribution of health charities and to support them on an ongoing basis, both fiscally and on the legislative and regulatory side.
We also call on our fellow citizens who are able to support our organizations to do so. Whether financially or by volunteering, there is no small gesture: all efforts count in health!
On this World Health Day, demonstrations are organized all over the world to emphasize that health is the most expensive good of humans. This is also what we believe and this is why we take our hats off to all those who work day and night to ensure our health, sometimes in difficult conditions and often at the sacrifice of their personal lives.
Dear Quebecers, to your health!
