BLOOM combines real family stories with the best expert advice, plus the latest news and opinion on disability.
Helping patients 'get a bit of their sparkle back'
'I try to understand their interests outside the hospital. Doing something fun takes away from the medicalization of being in the hospital.'
'I love it if someone needs help and I can help'
If you're a parent staying at Holland Bloorview with your child, chances are you know Berthe Nabico. Berthe has been a housekeeper here f...
'I wanted to make sure this didn't happen to another kid'
Laura Oxenham-Murphy is the interim director of Quality, Safety and Performance at Holland Bloorview. Laura first thought about improving...
'I'd like to see siblings treated more like patients'
Victoria Rombos has worked in Holland Bloorview's Ronald McDonald playroom as an early childhood studies student, then volunteer, and now...
With Aicam on the case, hospitalized kids have fun
Aicam Chuong has been a nurse at Holland Bloorview for over 30 years—first as a student, then working with children hospitalized here w...
This nurse earns high praise from kids
Lisa Drumonde is a registered practical nurse working with children who are hospitalized at Holland Bloorview for rehab after painful bone surgeries or life-changing trauma.
Earning child, parent trust is job number 1 for surgeon
Dr. Unni Narayanan (above left) is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children who sees patients at Holland Bloorview while they do their rehab here. Dr. Narayanan went to Madras
Lived experience 'helps me go to the darker places with families'
Holland Bloorview social worker Val Lusted has spent almost 20 years working with youth with brain injuries caused by illness or trauma, and those hospitalized for rehab after bone surgeries or spinal
How vulnerable brains find workarounds is this scientist's passion
Dr. Tomáš Paus is fascinated by brains—not individual brains, but the study of hundreds of thousands of them. As a neuroscientist, he studies how our genes, and our physical and social environments
'I want a job where I play with toys and make kids feel awesome'
Lisa Kakonge is a speech-language pathologist with Holland Bloorview's brain injury program. She did her training in Albany, New York, but always planned on coming back to Toronto, and had her eye on
Listening to a band or hosting a tea party makes therapy more fun
Carling Robertson (right) is an occupational therapist assistant at Holland Bloorview. She works with children with brain injury and youth preparing for employment. After doing an undergraduate degree
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