In part two of her series Saving SickKids: Rebuilding the House of Hope, NEWSTALK1010's Ashley Legassic explores the people who make SickKids the place it is. Each patient, caretaker, physician and staff member has a special connection to the hospital.
On Thursday, NEWSTALK1010 will be holding its annual Gift of Giving radiothon in support of SickKids from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on The Rush. The event has never been as important as it is this year.
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Whenever Deb Hutton gets a coffee when she's taking her daughter to SickKids, she's taken back to this time of year eight years ago.
"I can never get a Starbucks coffee there and not think 'I was here every day for 28 days'."
It’s been a long time since Miller was an inpatient at the hospital, but her and her family still spend time there for appointments and tests.
"Her actual diagnosis is something called apraxia, which is a very severe speech issue, and that has brought us into contact with the communications clinic there," Hutton says. "Also the plastic surgery clinic where they did major surgery on her throat. They say it's not the most complex surgery they do at SickKids but it's one of the most painful."
The Hospital for Sick Children isn’t just a staple in Toronto. Patients from all over the province and country seek help inside this building.
"I owe my brother's life, I guess, to SickKids."
Emergency physician Dr. Natasha Collia knows how cliche it sounds when she says she got into pediatrics because she loves children. While that’s true, her story goes deeper than that.
"SickKids was a big part of my life growing up," Collia says. "I spent a lot of time there when my brother was sick, I spent a lot of time there when we had to go back for visits, I think personally I only had one visit in my life, as a kid. But SickKids was always this mecca of pediatrics, and it was a dream for me."
There’s a special connection almost everyone feels when they think about a hospital that’s dedicated to saving the most vulnerable.
For Madison Chin, a big part of her job as a child life specialist is bringing some normalcy and happiness in one of the toughest times of a family’s life.
"(We) ensure that important milestones like birthdays, like prom, like the holidays, are all still being acknowledged, and recognized and celebrated."
Through the pandemic Chin has helped introduce some more fun at the patient’s bedside since places like the playroom are off limits.
"And by allowing them to have kind of a safe moment or safe place to do what they want to do, we give them a bit more power, and it also helps them adjust to the environment and make things a little easier, less scary."