NEO Kids Foundation raising cash for proposed Sudbury children's hospital
Northeast LHIN declined to recommend $55 million project to the province in June
On average, once every hour, a sick child from northeastern Ontario has to make a trip to southern Ontario for health care.
That's according to the NEO Kids Foundation — and it's a part of the revamped pitch being prepared to convince the province to build a dedicated children's hospital in Sudbury.
Mills said at the moment, pediatric services at Health Sciences North are at critical mass.
"There's nowhere to treat our sick children," she said. "We don't have the space anymore."
In June, the region's Local Health Integration Network, or LHIN, declined to recommend the proposed centre to the province, saying that Health Sciences North would have to do more to justify the estimated $55 million cost of the stand-alone facility.
Redoubling their efforts to hammer out the business case, the NEO Kids Foundation has now started to raise money for the proposed new centre. It also recently received a sizeable community endorsement in the form of a $500,000 cheque from the Health Sciences North Volunteer Association.
"[But] the foundation was started up not just to raise money for the new centre," Mills said. "We identified that there's rising incidences of chronic illnesses among children."
"NEO Kids is really a philosophy of care," she continued. "The foundation will raise money for all of the children's programs and priorities at HSN — not just the new centre."
According the the foundation's web site, kids in northern Ontario have poorer health overall than their southern counterparts, and "demand for services is expected to grow by up to 40 per cent over the next 10 years."
Listen to the complete interview with Patricia Mills here.
