Stories of SickKids.
From May - July 2017 I was the Strategic Communications Intern at The Hospital for Sick Children.
The little soldier.
“Ethan calls himself a little soldier. When it comes time for a procedure he will rush out of the room on his own, ripping his cords out of the wall to gain another bead for his collection. Every time he gets a bead he feels like he has accomplished something. Ask him what his favourite bead is and he’ll point to the tiger because the tiger is strong."
Growing up brave.
“Bravery beads were an important part of keeping me brave as a young child at SickKids, and have continued to be an important part of keeping me brave even in the last four years, as I have spent a great amount of time admitted on many floors as an adolescent. IV pokes, blood work, and emergency room visits don't get any easier as you get older so having a bead to count on at the end of the day has kept me strong throughout some of my weakest moments. A few weeks ago after turning 18 and graduating from SickKids, I received my final goodbye bead. I'll hold onto that bead, and all my many others, forever!”
Celebrate Community.
Happy Birthday Soleil! Soleil celebrated her birthday (on the first day of summer ☀️) with all her friends in Marnie's Lounge! She took all her guests to France 🇫🇷 to play all her favourite games! Oh là là! 🎁🎉
Share Research.
For National Drowning Prevention Week let us introduce you to Dr. Tessa Clemens! Tessa is a Research Fellow for the Centre for Global Child Health at SickKids. Her work focuses on injury surveillance systems in low- and middle-income countries. She’s also a drowning expert. Her dissertation research focused on the epidemiology and prevention of drowning in Canada, and the reporting and classification of drowning deaths worldwide.
Promote Wellness.
This week is Canadian Environment Week! Nature can have a profound impact on everything that we do, from how we provide patient care to the happiness of staff, patients and families. In recognition of this year’s theme of reconnecting people to nature, SickKids is featuring an #SKPlace that allows patients and families to reconnect with nature while at the hospital.
Stories of impact. SickKids News.
A centennial coin full of memories – a SickKids patient’s Canada 150+ story.
Jennifer Rock woke up at SickKids on July 1, 1967, four days after her corrective urologic surgery, to a special gift from the hospital – a coin commemorating Canada’s centennial. Surprised by the present, she pulled herself up and joined the other children marveling at the Canada Day parade marching past their windows on Elm Street. This is how patients on the sixth floor of SickKids celebrated Canada’s 100th birthday 50 years ago.
Join the SickKids Research Institute for Doors Open Toronto!
Have you ever wondered what SickKids researchers do behind the doors of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning (PGCRL)? Join the SickKids Research Institute as we welcome the public on Saturday, May 27 and Sunday, May 28 for Doors Open Toronto 2017.
Stories of Medical Leaders,
Researches in Profile.
Profile of
Dr. Victoria Forster
The sequencing of the human genome in 2003 changed everything for cancer sciences. It allowed us to compare the DNA in a patient’s cancer cells and their normal somatic DNA to find differences and changes. While at the time it cost millions to sequence one genome, we can now do it for a few hundred dollars. The increasing affordability of genome sequencing means that researchers like me can get into the nitty gritty of what causes individual cancers. When we can do that, we can finally start thinking about how to treat patients as individuals.
Profile of
Dr. Neal Sondheimer
The three-parent-embryo is a way for women who have had a child with a mitochondrial disorder to have a child that is healthy. These families are obviously very frightened about having future children. It is now technically possible, though complicated, to create embryos through in vitro fertilization and then move the nucleus from the embryo into a recipient egg where the nucleus has been removed. Through this process you actually exchange the mother’s mitochondrial DNA with the donor egg’s mitochondrial DNA.
Profile of
Melissa Polonenko
At SickKids, I study brain development in children who have asymmetric hearing loss. These children have severe to profound hearing loss (deafness) in one ear whereas the other ear has quite a variable range of hearing loss - anywhere from normal hearing to a severe hearing loss as well. The problem for these children is that they don’t meet standard criteria for a cochlear implant in the one ear but they struggle because they don’t have adequate hearing in both ears.
Profile of
Dr. Eyal Cohen
The advice that I would give someone wanting to pursue a research career is to try to focus less on external factors they have very little control over and reflect on what is it that makes you love what you do. At the end of the day that’s what’s going to drive you. That’s what motivates me to come to work every day to care for patients, teach, and do research. If you can ensure that your work motivates you inside, then everything else will sort itself out.
Profile of
Dr. Andrea Doria
There have been thousands of important scientific breakthroughs over the centuries but in my field, the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen was a turning point in diagnostics. It enabled the evaluation of internal organs and bones which were previously inaccessible for investigation. The discovery of radium and polonium has also been extremely beneficial to patients with cancer. Radiotherapy uses these elements as a therapeutic method in oncology.