It’s hard to believe that today marks exactly 100 days since everyone welcomed me so warmly at Holland Bloorview. How time has flown!

Listening, learning together

Over the past three months, I’ve had the privilege of learning from and hearing about the incredible teams—our staff, learners, volunteers and clients and families — who make Holland Bloorview a place so many call home, or their ‘home away from home’. I had the opportunity to tour our clinical programs—many of which are ‘first-of-its-kind’—that support over 9,500 clients and their families each year. I’ve also learned about the depth and breadth of research innovations that are enabling children and youth to express their ideas, have more agency over their lives —and play and dream. 

 I couldn’t be more proud to be part of this incredible community. 

The path ahead

As we navigate increasingly complex and unchartered challenges across the health-care system, our continued success—and, more importantly, the health and well-being of more than 326,400 children and youth living with disabilities and developmental differences across our province —depends on finding bold and innovative ways to strengthen the full spectrum of care. 

As Canada’s hospital for children with disabilities and developmental differences, we have a responsibility to ensure that children and youth across the province, the country and the world have access to the same level of care, services and innovation we have here. We are continuing to build capacity across the system through initiatives such as Empower BCI, Programs in a Box and Echo Ontario Autism. And we do this through strong and varied partnerships with a wide variety of organizations, agencies and communities  – big and small.

I recently toured one of our community partners, Safehaven, with CEO Susan Bisaillon, and learned more about the Transitional Care for Medically Complex Children Program we co-created in 2022 . This vital program is providing personalized, integrated care for children with complex care needs during their transition from hospital to home and community life. This partnership, as well as the newly secured annualized funding we received for the Extensive Needs Service program are important examples of how we can work across the continuum of care to ensure children receive the right support at every stage of their journey.

Fueling continuous improvement

As we continue our journey to becoming a learning health system, we will continue to ground our work in learning and improvement, leveraging real-world data to build new knowledge  and rapidly translate that knowledge into practice. Our learning health system is centered around the needs of clients, families and staff and supports the broader health-care system to deliver excellent, safe, accessible care and services, right here at Holland Bloorview and well beyond our walls to reach national and international communities. 

The future is bright

I am energized when I think about what lies ahead for Holland Bloorview. The difference we make for kids and families, our community and our world has become crystal clear—and dares us to reach new heights in transforming care and building an inclusive world.