This year, Montréal is receiving more than $10.4 million to improve the care journey and overall health of children in the region.
Enfant Soleil helps more than 100 healthcare facilities across the province and provides invaluable support to the four major pediatric centres, which give specialized and sub-specialized care to any child who needs it.
Spotlight on several projects promising beautiful things on the horizon
Montreal Children’s Hospital (the Children’s
As a specialized pediatric care centre, the Children’s sees more than 195,000 young patients from across the province in need of specialized care each year. As such, it has received major support from Enfant Soleil since 1989. This year, it will be receiving $4.8M, another big step for the health of our little sunshines.
This contribution will be used to carry out several projects, including the Trauma Centre’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Clinic. This specialized clinic, the first of its kind in Canada and a world leader in concussion management, sees more than 700 patients and gives 4,000 consultations a year for trauma from a blow or sudden movement, often occurring during a sport, recreational activity, fall or collision.
Enfant Soleil’s support will mainly go toward physiotherapy, a pillar of post-concussion recovery. Physiotherapists play a key role in helping young people safely resume their physical and cognitive activities so they can get back to doing what they do best: running, playing and being their wonderfully mischievous selves.
CHU Sainte-Justine
This year’s historic $4.8M contribution to this mother-and-child university hospital, which welcomes families from across Quebec, will concretely benefit several areas of expertise.
The project to modernize the Centre ambulatoire Enfant Soleil (outpatient centre) will continue and will transform the hospital experience for thousands of children and families across the province. Part of the funding will go toward upgrading the spaces in the pediatric sports medicine clinic to offer young people with a sports-related injury a more effective and sustainable care pathway better adapted to their reality.
“The modernization of CHU Sainte-Justine’s Centre ambulatoire Enfant Soleil goes far beyond its physical spaces. Being able to better assess, treat and prevent sports-related injuries by updating the sports medicine clinic, for example, will help pave the way for a generation of young people who are active and healthy throughout their lives. Thank you for your steadfast commitment to the well-being of children, families and society as a whole.” —Dr. Marie-Lyne Nault, Orthopedic Surgeon, Researcher and Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialist
Several advancements have been made in the sports medicine clinic over the last several years, including the forming of an interdisciplinary team and the adoption of advanced assessment tools. Enfant Soleil’s contribution will make it possible to modernize all of the clinic’s spaces, notably by adding a gait analysis walkway, which will allow for more complete and accurate injury assessments in a confidential, safe and adapted environment. By reducing wait times, favouring targeted interventions and supporting rehabilitation for a safe return to physical activity, the improvements made possible by Enfant Soleil will help children and their families quickly regain their routine, life balance and the joy of being active.
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
Pediatric cardiology has been a subspecialty at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont for more than 30 years. With the $200,000 in funding it is receiving from Enfant Soleil, it will be able to purchase a neonatal and pediatric cardiac ultrasound for inpatient and outpatient use.
This acquisition will give families in the east end of the island of Montréal quicker access to pediatric cardiology consultations and follow-ups close to home. It will help make care gentler by enabling faster and safer patient management, while also keeping families from having to travel to other hospitals.
Helping grown-ups improve young lives
Essential support for the entire pediatric ecosystem
Discover other projects funded in the region
10 bilirubinometers
- These tools will enable around 4,000 babies to be tested for jaundice—a condition affecting around 60% of newborns—during in-home postnatal follow-up visits, by quickly, gently and safely measuring the level of bilirubin in their blood.
Observation, assessment and breastfeeding rooms
- Some observation and assessment rooms will be upgraded so that the approximately 10,000 children who visit them annually can enjoy a more welcoming and stimulating environment for a gentler, more natural assessment of their development.
- The improved breastfeeding rooms will offer nearly 1,000 mothers a comfortable, private, soothing space conducive to nurturing their bond of attachment with their infant.
Neonatal cardiac monitor for the resuscitation table
- This high-performance device accurately measures the heart rate of newborns, allowing healthcare teams to quickly adjust the care provided, ensuring more responsive and effective management when every second counts.
Neonatal restraint system for transportation
- This adapted and adjustable harness system securely attaches to the transport incubator to safely move newborns.
Development of a comfort room
Each year, this inclusive and soothing space will help more than 300 children living with an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder to regulate their emotions, relax and recharge, ensuring their well-being and fostering their overall development.
Development of an occupational therapy room
- A room set up for occupational therapy will offer a wide variety of adapted and safe services to better meet the specific needs of each child and adolescent.
Setup of multipurpose rooms at the Jeanne-Mance and Verdun CLSCs
- With the addition of new modular furniture, the current consultation rooms will be more versatile to suit the needs of the different clienteles (young children, teenagers, families, etc.) and specialties (social work, psychoeducation, psychology, occupational therapy, etc.) who share these rooms, improving the quality of the services provided.
Various essential equipment
- This grant will make it possible to purchase several essential pieces of pediatric equipment, including otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes and pediatric hospital beds, to provide care suited to children.
Reconfiguration and modernization of the outpatient pediatric clinic
- The hospital will receive $228,100, the second instalment of a $500,000 grant paid out over two years, to reconfigure and modernize its outpatient pediatric clinic, as well as increase its capacity.
2 adapted bathtubs and 2 bath chairs
The acquisition of adapted bathtubs will make it possible to give dignified, comfortable and safe hygiene care to around 180 children with special needs each year. Ergonomic and designed for complex clinical realities, they make a big difference in the children’s quality of life, turning a sometimes anxiety-inducing experience into a moment of relaxation and well-being.
Espaces Chrysalide
The Chrysalide project will transform therapeutic consultation rooms into safe, welcoming spaces that inspire trust for more than 200 young people living in youth centres under the DPJ’s care to give them positive experiences.
Renovation of the occupational therapy gym
- The occupational therapy gym will be renovated to create a modern, more functional and engaging space so that children eight and under with developmental disabilities and motor impairments can have more productive therapy sessions, using better tools, in a space better suited to reaching their rehabilitation goals.
Projects financed by the Sport and Sustainable Health Fund (SSHF)
The SSHF aims to promote and support healthy lifestyle habits in children through sport, physical activity and healthy eating, as well as cultivating emotional and mental well-being. This fund will help three organizations in the region carry out their projects for a total of $23,299:
• Emergo Foundation
• La Dauphinelle
• Hôpital en santé mentale Rivière-des-Prairies
Rose Lavoie, Enfant Soleil for Montréal
Rose and her family are brilliant ambassadors who courageously share their story and reality.
Even before Rose was born, there were concerns about her health. Ultrasounds revealed that the size of her head was slightly disproportionate, but not alarmingly so. When she was born, tests were nonetheless conducted at Sainte-Justine, as well as genetic testing. At four months, her strabismus and difficulty holding up her head confirmed her parents’ worries. After long months of waiting and uncertainty, a diagnosis was finally made. Rose has a rare genetic syndrome (CTNNB1) that affects her motor and cognitive development. Although she faces significant challenges, Rose learned to walk at 21 months with the help of specially adapted orthoses, and continues to make progress every day, driven by unwavering determination. With physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, osteopathy, ophthalmology, neurology, physiatry, ENT and other appointments, the family has a complicated daily life, but her parents remain optimistic. Rose is a true ray of sunshine, all smiles and resilience, and every little victory is a huge achievement for her and her family.