Empowered Patients and Healthy Citizens: What role can we play in the healthcare system?

For decades now, citizens have been encouraged to take responsibility for their own well-being, be it through healthy eating, active living, or psychological self-care. The concept of empowerment has also infiltrated the patient experience through “patient-partner” programs, which challenge traditional ideas of who knows best. Despite this emphasis on shared accountability, when it comes to the system as a whole – deciding how much doctors get paid or what kind of facilities get built where – current and future patients have very little say. How much influence should we as citizens have over this vital public system? Do we have the knowledge and abilities required to make informed decisions? In the context of recent policy changes that favour regional governance with reduced citizen involvement, this public conversation will consider what is in store for public health in Quebec. Can we rely on our politicians to ensure a healthy future for the healthcare system or do we need to start playing a bigger role?

Guests

After having worked as an administrator for humanitarian missions in several struggling democracies throughout Asia, Mélanie Perroux finally decided to put her roots down in a calmer country: Quebec. Drawing from her interest in philosophy as well as the knowledge she has gained coordinating research about health organizations, she now finds herself wondering how citizens of democratic countries can use their freedom of expression to achieve the vision of society they have been promised.

Myrill Solaski is a family doctor who works with the Cree population in the James Bay Region, and at the Community Clinic in Pointe Saint-Charles. She is interested in holistic, preventive medicine, mental health, and early childhood development. She believes in addressing the social determinants of health and inequality through collective activism.

Moderator

Alex Megelas is into researching the power of DIY tek communities, doing sports-for-the-people and drawing water-colour maps of dungeons. He's in a band called Best Friends. He bikes around town. He has cats.

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