Our story
DocTocToc
In the field, certain situations related to access to healthcare occur all too frequently. It was in seeking alternative ways to address them that the DocTocToc project was born.
The little story of DocTocToc
DocTocToc is an initiative by Dr. Rislaine Benkelfat, a pediatrician at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. In her practice, she is regularly confronted with the multiple barriers vulnerable families face in accessing healthcare. In 2017, she decided to obtain her MBA at HEC Montréal in the hopes of finding an innovative solution to improve medical and psychosocial care for children. That’s when she first had the idea for a mobile clinic, a model that’s already seen great success in Canada and across the world.
Ma MobiClinique was created in 2017, with the support of Jean-Philippe Couture, a financial analyst specialized in public funding for nonprofit organizations. Incorporated in 2018 and rebaptized DocTocToc the following year, the organization developed partnerships with the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and McGill University.
In 2020, DocTocToc was officially designated a registered charity. In August of the same year, in close collaboration with the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and the nonprofit Parole d’excluEs, the team organized a pop-up pediatric care clinic in Montreal North, a neighborhood with high poverty rates.
Three years later, at the Montreal North annual health fair, DocTocToc hosted a neurodevelopmental screening event for children aged 0 to 5, again in close collaboration with the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
DocTocToc’s first two activities were a huge success. Their high attendance rates and the problems the team identified among children demonstrated a real need for care and access to health services.
On March 19, 2025, the DocTocToc mobile clinic was inaugurated, in partnership with the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine. DocTocToc hopes to care for 1,500 children per year, all while pursuing its mission in teaching, research, evaluation, knowledge translation and advocacy. The team is also seeking out partnerships and collaborations with various resources in the field.
Awards:
2017: Coup de cœur Award from Hacking Health Montreal at the Desjardins Coopérathon
2018: Participation in the Je fais Mtl movement
2018: First place tie in the Tocqueville Challenge in Paris
2019: McGill Dobson Cup finalist in the Social Enterprise Track
2019: OSEntreprendre Finalist in the Service to Individuals Category
2019: Innovator of the Year Award presented to Dr. Rislaine Benkelfat by REPAF (Réseau des entrepreneurs et professionnels africains)
2025: Social Innovation Personality of the Year Award, Global Health category, awarded to Dr. Rislaine Benkelfat by the MIS (Maison de l’innovation sociale)