bringing a bit of kansas to sickkids

I took the VIA train to Toronto from London, and checked in at my downtown hotel.  When I opened the curtains, the twinkling lights of Toronto were 42 floors below.  I thought to myself:  ‘Dorothy/Sue, you aren’t in Kansas/Edmonton anymore’.

The NICU Family Care Committee at SickKids Hospital brought me to Toronto for two days of workshops and presentations.  I had an exhilarating experience with a group of passionate staff, physicians and families who are dedicated to advancing the practice of family centred care.

Janis Purdy and Kim Dionne, the co-chairs, were my hosts and organizers.  Their vision and leadership was clear early on in my planning phone calls with them.   I was grateful to Lucy Costanzo for handling all my logistics, and Nurse Manager Audra Jesso for her support.  The participants included Kate Robson, Family Coordinator from Sunnybrook NICU.  It was great to see such a diverse audience – a clear sign of collaboration between departments and hospitals in Toronto.

I developed a two-hour Peer Support workshop for the NICU group.  It walked through Embedding Peer Support in a hospital environment, and I presented this Family Centred Care Framework for Managing Change.

The stars in the diagram represent the realities:  ‘You are in a bureaucracy’ and ‘People are resistant to change’ (even good change).

I read a powerful passage from Jennifer Graf Groneberg’s story, ‘First Words’ from the book called Gifts: Mothers reflect on how children with Down syndrome enrich their lives’, and we had lively dialogue about who are the Peer Support champions?  Who are the stakeholders?  How to create opportunities to talk to each other…and other important questions that need to be answered when introducing a new idea into the hospital environment.

Kim gave me a tour of the NICU, and I was taken with the generous space that is allotted to family areas – a big waiting room, a locker room, and three private breastfeeding rooms.  I also had a tour of SickKids Hospital, conducted by the extraordinary Nelson Paiva.  I loved their ‘Play Park’ that is a drop-in space for siblings to play while their brothers or sisters are visiting hospital clinics or staying in the hospital.

I also presented about Sharing the News:  Disclosing Diagnosis to Chief Medical Rounds – Neonatologists, Fellows, Residents and students.  I felt fortunate to co-present the Sharing the News presentation with Dr. Jonathan Hellmann – his wise and thoughtful perspective as a Neonatologist was invaluable during the session.    He generously shared many copies of the beautiful book:  It Was Midnight on the Ocean – the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Book of Rhymes and Stories that I will pass onto the Stollery NICUs.

My main message?  The birth of every baby deserves to be celebrated.  Please say congratulations to all the families you meet.

The SickKids Family Centred Care Council booked me for a ninety minute presentation about ‘Engaging Family Advisors’, where I shared the Stollery Children’s Hospital Network model and the power of family storytelling.  Thank you to co-chairs Jonathan Blumberg and Barbara Muskat and senior leader Karima Karmali for coordinating that session.  Jonathan gets credit for the clever title in this post.  He thanked me for bringing some Kansas to SickKids.

I felt so energized leaving Toronto, knowing that the biggest children’s hospital in the country is so dedicated to the vision of family centred care for their families, children and youth.

Thank you for being such warm and generous hosts, and for being so open to new ideas and perspectives.

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