Message from the Board Chair

2019-2020 was a year unlike any before, and we are proud that the team at Four Villages continued to improve access to care and effectively serve our clients and our communities through these challenging times. These successes are evident from the performance metrics shared in the 2019-2020 Annual Report, from the feedback of our clients and staff, and from the growing partnerships within our community.

The Board has also recognized that there are challenges we must continue address, and areas where we must do better.

Two topics in particular deserve to be raised in our assessment of 2019-2020:

CoViD-19

The public health emergency of the CoViD-19 Pandemic required Four Villages staff to swiftly re-engineer how we deliver services. Executing our Pandemic Plan, and with regular Provincial Guidance, Four Villages staff quickly established protocols for screening clients and for infection control, while pivoting to provide care for our clients virtually using email, phone calls and videoconferencing. This meant that we suspended offering our in-person health promotion programs. To ensure vulnerable clients remained supported and safe during the Pandemic, front line staff identified clients who might be at risk and directly reached out to every single one of these clients to provide care, support and ensure they were OK. On behalf of the Board, a BIG THANK YOU to our great staff who rose to the occasion to care not only for clients but for each other.

Anti-Black Racism

The long-overdue reckoning that Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Indigenous Racism exists to the serious harm and detriment of many in our communities and can no longer be ignored. At Four Villages we recognize that to fix something we need to understand manifestations of racism. This means active individual and organizational self-reflection and training about unconscious biases and working to remove these biases in how we provide care and programs. We also continue to collect health equity data to understand who we are serving and ascertain what issues exist for Four Villages clients. As Four Villages gets closer to completing approval processes for our third site , it is incumbent that as we build and grow our services, we also consider and plan for additional steps and actions, along with other agencies, to countervail 450 years of system discrimination.

Looking Forward

I remain honoured to serve an organization that values collaboration, respect, empowerment, excellence and diversity and that these values are embraced by all staff and volunteers, the management and administrative team, and, the Board at Four Villages.

Together we will build a better and more inclusive health care system in West Toronto offering integrated, coordinated and compassionate care to all residents, and to all our clients and their families.

Board Chair,

Simon Hagens