Fall marks back to school and a new SPARK Season. Learn, collaborate, and network with Children's Healthcare Canada & our members

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Welcome to the SPARK Newsletter!

Delivered twice monthly, the SPARK: News e-bulletin provides members and other subscribers with valuable information through the following sections:

Children's Healthcare Canada news and announcements
SPARK: Theme of the month with related upcoming webinars, podcasts, pop-up events (mini-conferences), and more
Member Spotlight: Articles profiling our members and their work - research, innovations, emerging issues
Advocacy: Policy briefs, engagements, and opportunities to become involved
Other child health news: Research, government announcements, and more

Children's Healthcare Canada members are invited to submit content (300-word submission with a banner image and URL link). If you are interested in posting an article, resource, or news via SPARK: News, please contact us at spark@childrenshealthcarecanada.ca.

Jump to: Top Stories | Upcoming Events | SPARK: Ideas

We are thrilled to have the CHEO Research Institute TECHi team at this year's Children's Healthcare Canada conference!

CHEO has expanded their service offerings with the inception of an innovations team, TECHi (Technology Enabling Child Health Innovations), whose purpose is to create a rich support ecosystem designed for healthcare innovators who aim to improve the lives of children and youth. TECHi's focus at our conference will be on how to achieve an impact in the world through healthcare innovation.

They have a number of exciting sessions planned for our delegates to attend and learn how they can make their own an impact in the research and innovation world! Their sessions will be focused on:

Navigating Physician and Industry Interactions
Creating a Pathway for Healthcare Commercialization
De-Risking your Innovation through Partnerships
Creating Impact Through Innovation (Pitch Workshop)

Our conference is being hosted on November 29- December 1, 2022 in Ottawa, Ontario or you can join us virtually!

Visit our conference platform to learn more about this year’s event and register today!

Interested in becoming an event sponsor? Check out 2022 Sponsorship Package. Contact conference@childrenshealthcarecanada.ca to chat about our available offerings. Let’s work together to customize a package that maximizes your investment in child health.

Thank You!
From Practice to Policy - Keeping What Worked

On behalf of Children's Healthcare Canada and Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), thank you for making our Immunizing Children with Confidence Pop-Up Event a huge success!

We convened healthcare leaders from across Canada to celebrate, reflect on, and discuss the lessons learned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic related to vaccinating children and youth.

Delegates engaged leaders from across the continuum of healthcare for kids on subjects ranging from communication and collaboration, to access and accessibility. This critical and timely content was developed in partnership with the Immunizing Children with Confidence Advisory Committee, to which we are most grateful for sharing their time, expertise, and energy.

We’d also like to thank our funder, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the amazing speakers who shared their wisdom, and everyone who submitted a poster for our poster hall.

Don't worry if you missed the event, we will be posting an event summary in both French and English and posting the recorded sessions soon!

Welcome to Season 3 of SPARK: Conversations, podcasts and interviews with leaders in child health on issues that matter.

Season 3 begins with guest host, Sarah Preston-Thomas, who joined Children’s Healthcare Canada this summer for a MHA Student Residency, in conversation with Dr. Katharine Smart, pediatrician and Past-President of the Canadian Medical Association. Tune in to hear Sarah interview Dr. Smart about tackling the considerable mis/disinformation (Episode 1) and the steps required to rebuild trust in healthcare and science and address the extra disease burden on the healthcare system due to COVID-19 (Episode 2).

We are delighted to announce that, in October, Dr. Katharine Smart will change podcast roles moving from podcast guest to podcast host. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Smart as part of our SPARK: Conversations team!

SEASON 3: Episode 1 - Getting the Facts Straight: Tackling mis/disinformation through patient-provider relationships- Part 1 in a two-part series in which Dr. Katharine Smart will be discussing the impact of mis and dis information on our population and the ways to rebuild trust in the healthcare system.

SEASON 3: Episode 2 - Healing the Healthcare System: staff burnout, honest leadership, and collaboration- Part 2 in a two-part series in which Dr. Katharine Smart will be outlining the current state of Canadian healthcare, speaking to the importance of provider well-being, how to bring our healthcare system back from the brink of collapse due to the detrimental impact of COVID-19, and the nuances of collaborating and advocating in innovative ways both as individuals and organizations to bring about systemic change.

Seasons 1 & 2 are also available online for your listening pleasure!

September SPARK Theme: Back to School

September 12, 2022
Podcast
Getting the Facts Straight: Tackling mis/disinformation through patient-provider relationships

Listen now!

September 28, 2022
Webinar
Early Words: Children's healthcare professionals and the promotion of early literacy

Register today

September 26, 2022
Podcast
Healing the Healthcare System: staff burnout, honest leadership, and collaboration

Read the podcast description

October 26, 2022
Webinar
Creating Community Partnerships for Greater Equity and Access to Children's Health

Details coming soon!

Nov 29 - Dec 1, 2022
Annual Conference
Energy, Optimism and Leadership: A Bright Future for Child Health in Canada

Visit our website for more info!

Call for Abstracts for the International Meeting on Indigenous Child Health

The Planning Committee invites submissions for Oral and Poster presentations on all topics pertaining to Indigenous child health. Submissions will be accepted from individuals working with Indigenous populations, and are not limited to medical providers.

Read more online and submit your abstract before November 6.

CHEO is seeking a Senior Vice President, Corporate Services & Chief Financial Officer

For an individual who is passionate about and inspired by CHEO’s journey, this is a wonderful opportunity to be at the forefront of the evolution of pediatric care in the province and nationally.

Reporting to the President and Chief Executive Officer as an Executive Member of CHEO, the SVP & CFO provides the overall direction and delivery of effective and efficient corporate services and oversees CHEO’s financial operations and management of operational support functions, which includes the oversight of over $403M operating budget, over $35M capital budget, and 65 accountability agreements with government. They will be responsible for establishing and implementing the strategic resources plan, ensuring alignment with the vision, mission, values, strategic directions, goals, and objectives of the hospital

Read the full description online.

You are invited to CP-NET Science and Family Day 2022!

Discover, connect, and celebrate with families, researchers, healthcare providers, and policymakers on World Cerebral Palsy Day. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the latest Cerebral Palsy research and community resources!.

Learn more on CP-NET website.

Callout for Youth Storytellers!

The Young Canadians Roundtable on Health, in partnership with The Sandbox Project, Healthy Debate and the Healthy Communities Initiative are looking for youth ages 12 to 25 for a new project called “In Their Own Words - Reflections by Youth on the Pandemic Project”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge and lasting effect on the entire Canadian population and dominates the national conversation. Many voices have been heard in the media yet, there is one group whose stories have not been told, and whose perspectives have not been sought - Canada’s youth.

We want to partner with youth from various communities across Canada to provide a direct platform to share their experiences/stories during the COVID-19 pandemic. These stories will be published on Healthy Debate to amplify youth voices and generate awareness of the youth pandemic experience to their fellow Canadians. Youth story submission can be in any form, including written pieces, visual art, music, video and/or audio. All stories must be submitted by November 18^th at 11:59pm EST. Youth will receive a $60 honorarium for their submission.

For more information, visit their website!

FASD Awareness Month – Information from AboutKidsHealth

AboutKidsHealth is marking Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Month by sharing information about FASD for parents and caregivers.

FASD affects approximately 1% of people living in Canada. There is no cure for FASD, but diagnosing the disorder early can help improve outcomes. Prevalence and treatment of FASD are further discussed in the AboutKidsHealth article, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Also discussed are the lifelong effects of FASD, the types of support a person with FASD may need throughout their lives to be successful and what parents/caregivers may expect as their child with FASD grows up.

AboutKidsHealth is SickKids’ health-education website and features more than 3,500 articles on a range of health topics. For more information on FASD and other health topics, visit aboutkidshealth.ca.

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