Sounding the alarm on Ontario’s crisis in children’s health care
McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) has partnered with other provincial children’s hospitals and organizations to lead the effort to bring attention to the impact of the pandemic on children and youth, and their families.
Partners within the Children’s Healthcare Coalition have identified wait times and delays to care as urgent issues which will have lasting impacts on the mental health, development and physical well being of kids. The coalition is calling on the Ontario government to invest $375 million in children’s health care to alleviate the suffering of more than 160,000 children and families who are desperately waiting for mental health treatment, hospital surgeries and procedures, child development and rehabilitation services, and pediatric home care services.
“Nothing should stand in the way of caring for children, youth and their families even during these unusual times,” says Bruce Squires, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital and vice president of women’s and children’s health. “The importance of treating childhood illness and disease, and developmental and behavioural issues cannot be understated. If we wait any longer, we know that we will miss the window of opportunity for some children.”
The coalition is hosting a Kids in Crisis Town Hall on Thursday, September 17, 2020, at 7 p.m. ET for everyone – pediatric healthcare and service providers, parents, caregivers, teachers, government representatives, etc. – concerned about the health of our children and youth to discuss this issue.
Register for the Town Hall here.
In addition to MCH, the coalition also includes Children’s Mental Health Ontario, SickKids, CHEO, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, Empowered Kids Ontario, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario and frontline health care professionals.