Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto - Alumnae of the School of Nursing

08/19/2023

This week I was thrilled to receive the graduation certificate, pin and photo of Barbara Joan Spence, graduate of the School for Nurses, Class of June 1924, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto! Aunt Barbie is fondly remembered by her great nieces and nephews, three of whom are pictured here with me. During her long career Barbara worked with the Children’s Aid Society and did private nursing in hospitals. Thanks to Harold Clark and Elizabeth Seaman of the USA her certificate has been returned to me and I will see that it gets to the SickKids archives. My spouse, Meredith Hill, is also a great niece of Barbara’s and I am a graduate of the HSC School of Nursing, Class of 1967. Our granddaughter, Rissa Merelyn Jopling, is a nurse at a Sick Kids. Connections and connections!

07/27/2023

❤️

💜 Hunter was a champion ski racer. A swimmer. A big sister. An old soul. In June 2021, Hunter had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She was nine years old. For a year she lived with the knowledge that her life would be cut short. But she didn’t turn away from hard questions and conversations. She faced them head on and wanted other kids to learn from her experience. Today, we’re remembering Hunter and her bond with Shaindy Alexander, a with the SickKids palliative care team. Together Shaindy and Hunter navigated the emotional upheaval of a devastating prognosis. For her important work, Shaindy was recently awarded the Mary Barkey Clinical Excellence Award, one of the highest honours in the field of Child Life. Shaindy’s role is supported entirely by donor funding.

: Listen to Shaindy and Hunter’s story on the SickKids VS Podcast here: https://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/podcast/despair

06/17/2023

Please be aware that occasionally someone starts randomly responding in the comments section of our posts and often asks you to order something. This is scam. Do not respond. I try to block them as I become aware of the situation and I report the activity.

04/15/2023

Thank you Ryan!

03/08/2023

Happy International Women’s Day!

01/08/2023

An incredible team!

The Star’s Megan Ogilvie and Steve Russell went behind the scenes with the SickKids’ pediatric transport team — called the Acute Care Transport Service, or ACTS.

10/28/2022

10/25/2022

Wow!

All 10 siblings and cousins of the Shea family are being monitored at SickKids, even though they’re not sick. A rare, genetic heart disease runs in their family. The symptoms can be mild or unnoticeable, but there’s a real risk of sudden cardiac arrest. In other words, not knowing could be deadly. It’s why geneticists at the Cardiac Genome Clinic and the Cardiac Precision Medicine Program at SickKids are digging deep into the family’s genomes for a peek into their future.

The programs are part of the Ted Rogers Centre For Heart Research, launched in 2014 by the Rogers Foundation to tackle heart disease from all angles, across all ages. Since then, SickKids has conducted whole-genome sequencing for 2,461 families, data which is also used to guide precision medicine research. Today, the Rogers Foundation announced a second transformational gift ($90M) which will extend this life-saving work to more families, like the Sheas, whose kids—and their kids and their kids—can be monitored, treated early, and protected against the worst. Explore how it will harness the strengths of its partners—SickKids Foundation, UHN Foundation & University of Toronto—to bring the promise of precision cardiac health to patients across Canada and globally: https://tedrogersresearch.ca/2022/10/90-million-gift-to-ted-rogers-centre-for-heart-research-marks-new-era-in-cardiac-health/ 🫀

10/24/2022

07/29/2022

Former SickKids patient Emily with her favourite nurse Louise, at 3 years old (top) and 17 years old (bottom). 💙

“The staff at SickKids supported me through everything. Over time, they became part of my family. Thanks to them, any day spent at SickKids during my childhood was a good day. This has made all the difference in my life and has shaped me into the person I am today. No matter what challenges come my way, I know that I have grown into the strong fighter that SickKids has always taught me to be.”

We’re incredibly grateful for Sobeys & Canada's Children's Hospital Foundations partnership with SickKids Foundation in support of Child and Youth Mental Health. Together, let’s create a , that helps other patients like Emily during their time at SickKids.

07/19/2022

06/23/2022

Growing up and moving on! Congratulations! Hopefully Sean will have a smooth transition to the adult system, possibly right across the street at UHN.

It’s graduation season and for many SickKids patients, graduation means something else: the transition to the adult health-care system when they turn 18. Patients like Sean, who turns 18 in July, and has been treated at SickKids since his ABO-incompatible heart transplant at five months old. Sean is now a healthy and thriving grade 11 student who loves acting and is an avid LEGO builder and collector.

Sean’s only request before leaving SickKids? All the Bravery Beads he’s earned for procedures from childhood. “When I think of SickKids, it’s a place where I grew up. I wanted my Bravery Beads because I earned them,” says Sean.

The Women’s Auxiliary Volunteers (WAV) surprised him with a special commemorative box and all told he has 532 Bravery Beads on 7 necklaces. For his 7 arrests, 4 lung collapses, 3 emergency open-heart surgeries, 1 heart transplant – and a whole lotta pokes, procedures and therapeutic clown visits. One of those beads is the new ‘graduation bead’, introduced by the WAV this year.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Bravery Beads program! A special shout out to the WAV for their countless volunteer hours and the Child Life Specialists who work in partnership to deliver this extraordinary program to SickKids patients.

06/18/2022

My Dad and Grandfathers were SickKids Dads back in 1958 and ‘61 when visiting was more restrictive and snail mail was the norm. For 6 weeks I counted on Dad sneaking up 8 flight of stairs to bring me treats at night (the nurses were in cahoots!) and not a day went by when I didn’t receive a note from my Poppys in Ottawa containing small gifts...pictures, stamps, paper clips, buttons, notebooks, etc. I ate the treats but I’ve hung onto those other important touchstones all this time....60 years! SickKids Dads are the very best! ❤️❤️

When your dad builds you a cardboard princess castle in your room at SickKids, complete with a ballroom, unicorn & fire-breathing dragon. 💕👑🏰

Happy to all of our incredible SickKids dads & father figures who go above & beyond for their sick kids each & every day.

06/09/2022

A very important podcast.

This is Hunter. She just turned 10. She has a little sister named Londyn and a dog named Daisy. Her parents joke that Hunter is more mature than they are—an old soul. Last year she was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. It threw her world upside down. Naturally, she has big thoughts and questions. And she’s not afraid to ask them.

Today on the SickKids VS Podcast sponsored by CIBC, hear how Child Life Specialist Shaindy Alexander is helping Hunter cope with a devastating prognosis and why it’s so important to talk to kids about death and dying. Listen: sickkidsfoundation.com/podcast/despair

06/01/2022

The Hospital for Sick Children raised the Progress Pride flag this morning to kick-off and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community! Ensuring the hospital is a safe and inclusive space for anyone who comes through the doors is a top priority, whether they’re patients, families or staff. 🏳️‍🌈

05/12/2022

Amazing! Happy Nurses Week!

At 2, Tobin was diagnosed with a brain tumour. ➡️ Today, he is a recent nursing school graduate who just completed his preceptorship at SickKids. His success is thanks to his grit, his supportive family and an incredible team at SickKids, who are challenging a long-held belief about the brain’s limits.

Listen to the latest episode of the SickKids VS Podcast sponsored by CIBC: www.sickkidsfoundation.com/podcast/braininjury