Co-Designing a Digital Navigation Tool Centering Community Voices in the FLA Ontario Health Team

Navigating health and wellness services in Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (FLA) can be challenging. To address this gap, the FLA Ontario Health Team (OHT) developed Find Services, a digital navigation tool integrated into the OHT’s public-facing website. In the absence of a complete provincial directory, this tool helps residents locate local and provincial services by need and location. The project aimed to ensure accessibility, bilingual functionality, and inclusion of diverse community needs while laying the groundwork for future transition to Health811.

The tool was co-designed with the FLA OHT Community Council, 23 community members who were engaged as equal partners throughout the development process. A subgroup of volunteers tested the tool, reviewed service listings, and validated categories, language, and functionality through four meetings over five months. Feedback directly shaped tool improvements, such as refining search features, adding bilingual capacity, improving address searches, and incorporating filters for Indigenous and French-language services.

“As a Community Council member, I supported the idea of adding a local service search function to the website,” says Brenda Luffman, who was part of the co-design subgroup. “We discussed what the tool could look like, what types of services it should include, how people would navigate it, and even where the link should appear on the site. Having experience as a caregiver and navigating services for elderly parents, I was familiar with several services that needed to be included,” Brenda shared. “I was also able to test how easy it was to use the map function, search for general versus specific services, and navigate the site overall.”

The co-design process resulted in a tool that is not only functional but trusted and meaningful for the community. It reflects local voices, strengthens trust between the OHT and residents, and demonstrates the value of community partnership in digital health innovation. Importantly, it highlighted the power of co-design to reduce barriers, increase inclusivity, and make care navigation more accessible. Improve navigation to health-care services for people within the FLA region.

Cp-design work included:

• 59 organizations and 335 services mapped, including all Health Homes and their services.
• A user-friendly, bilingual search interface with advanced filters was developed.
• Recommendations led to concrete changes such as keyword search, simplified fields, and better regional relevance in address searches.
• Community members validated usability, tested map functionality, and ensured relevance to diverse lived experiences (e.g., caregivers, digital comfort levels, Indigenous and Francophone perspectives).
• Discussions led to developing and refining a communications approach using simple, clean language, messaging that related to individuals

The Find Services tool showcases how OHTs can leverage co-design to improve access, equity, and trust in local health care. The lessons learned are relevant to other regions and systems working to balance digital transformation with meaningful community engagement.