Dr. Sean Murray, Medical Director, HSN Family and Child Program; Mick Weaver, Chair, NEO Kids Foundation; Jessica Grenier, Parent, NEO Kids; Patricia Mills, President, NEO Kids Foundation; Dr. Denis Roy, President and CEO, HSN.
Children often have to go to Toronto, Ottawa or London to get health care they need
NEO Kids Foundation will be led by Patricia Mills, former publisher of Northern Ontario Business and Sudbury Living Magazine.
Health Sciences North (HSN) announced the creation of a new foundation: The NEO Kids Foundation will be dedicated to building awareness for children’s care needs and raising funds to bring vital pediatric services to Northeastern Ontario.
“Health Sciences North has long viewed the need to establish a specialized pediatric centre of excellence for the north,” says, Dr. Denis Roy, HSN President and CEO. “That same principle of specialization is what led us to create the NEO Kids Foundation which will be entirely dedicated to children’s care needs.”
The NEO Kids Foundation will raise funds for children’s services, equipment and research at HSN, encompassing all children’s services at HSN. The Foundation will also work to raise public awareness so children are represented in key health care decisions.
“Much of my life has been devoted to caring for children,” says Dr. Sean Murray, Medical Director of HSN’s Family and Child Program and Chief of Pediatrics. “While I am certainly not a lone soldier on this front, I am very pleased that a new foundation, dedicated to children, is being created. The NEO KidsFoundation will lend a voice to children’s care needs in the north.”
The first priority for the NEO Kids Foundation will be the construction of a health centre designed and built for children’s specific needs. The health centre will provide pediatric services, clinics, diagnostics, and other services in one location. NEO Kids will include more clinical space for existing services, in addition to added capacity for new services and clinics. The facility will include a parent’s resource centre, a Ronald McDonald House for families from outside Greater Sudbury who must stay overnight to accommodate their children’s care, a Child Advocacy Centre for children who’ve suffered physical/sexual abuse, as well as on-site diagnostics and a pharmacy.
“I am very proud to be the Honorary Chair for the NEO Kids Foundation,” says well-known Sudburian and NHL star, Nick Foligno. “I know first-hand what it’s like to have a child need specialized care. I want to help make NEO Kids a reality for northern Ontario. It’s what we need, and I’m part of a large majority who believes that.”
“As a community, we can work together to ensure more of our children are treated, right here in the North, without the trauma of travel for treatment,” says Mick Weaver, Chair of NEO Kids Foundation. “Children need champions to herald their health care rights, and resources to help treat their unique medical needs, especially in Northern Ontario.”
“There are 10,000 reasons why the NEO Kids Foundation is needed in our community, states Patricia Mills, who will lead the new Foundation. “Every hour of every day, a child and their family leaves the North to receive care elsewhere. This does not have to be the case. The NEO Kids Foundation was launched to make the dream of receiving care, closer to home a reality for our children and their families.”
Anyone who wishes to make a donation or wantsto learn more about children’s care can visit neokidsfoundation.ca.
Source: Press Release
