The Children’s Treatment Network of Simcoe York received $100,000 after being awarded the 2008 Rothman Award in Paediatric Home Care Innovation.
The CTN is a not-for-profit delivery model for children with multiple disabilities. Instead of forcing parents and their children to various hospitals and clinics for different treatments, the network facilitates partnerships between service and treatment providers, and brings them into a child’s home for care.
“What really struck the (selection committee) was the innovation and collaboration of the network. We know children are better cared for at home in their communities,” said Joanne Kvirving, the director of national grants for the SickKids Foundation.
The money will be used to continue consolidating medical care, and bringing more services online, said Children’s Treatment Network CEO Bob Morton. There are currently about 45 different medical agencies and practitioners involved in the network, although each are at different stages when it comes to the level of integration, Morton said. As the service improves, the lives and care of children patients will continue to get better, which is a welcome change from the old system, he said.
“Parents have struggled and spoken vehemently about the need to reform the system,” said Morton. “Families helped to set the vision, and families have helped to keep us honest, (and on track).”
Morton said the goal of the CTN is to keep patients in their homes, where they can benefit most from treatments, and cut down on the immense travel time often associated with advanced levels of care. While having to drive an hour for medical appointments can be an inconvenience for everyone, it can be a particularly big burden for parents of children with disabilities he said.
“While Toronto is not a bad place, it’s not as good as home,” Morton said.
Lefroy resident Theresa Meininger Sanders knows the hardships of raising a child with disabilities all to well. Her five-year-old daughter, Jessica, was one of the first children accepted into the CTN program.
Her daughter suffered a global development delay, meaning that after birth she was not developing as fast as her fraternal twin brother. Then, at the age of two, she had a virus that caused a seizure that lasted 20 hours, which left her with the same side-effects as a massive stroke. The left side of her body was paralyzed, she could no longer speak and she had to eat through a feeding tube.
Since then, a small army of therapists and doctors has worked to speed her development and recovery. Before the CTN existed, each of those would work separate from each other. A speech therapist would work towards one set of goals, while another doctor might work towards another related to their specific expertise. The result was disjointed care, with Meininger Sanders left to bridge the gap between the different services.
Under CTN, all of the medical professionals work as a team, towards one common goal. The CTN database allows each practitioner to know what the others are doing instantly, and adjust their treatments accordingly. It also means that most of the care is done in Jessica’s home.
“Everybody is working together to meet these goals. It’s huge to have me as not the single point of contact,” she said.
For Meininger Sanders, personalized home care is the future of children’s health care in the province.
“I can’t even imagine health care not going that way. It has to go that way,” she said.
The award was announced presented at a children’s health symposium at the Nottawasaga Inn Resort last Monday.
At the same time, the CTN launched a new web forum on its website which gives parents the opportunity to learn from caregivers and other parents raising children with disabilities. The website can be found at www.ctn-simcoeyork.ca/ctnfamily/.
