Child development peers have spoken! Join us in congratulating the McMaster Children’s Hospital Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre team on winning the EKO Spring Symposium 2023 Poster Presentation People’s Choice Award for their poster, Welcome Groups: an opportunity for early intervention and family connection. 

The award recognizes an outstanding poster that receives the most votes by EKO Spring Symposium delegates. 

At McMaster Children’s Hospital’s Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre, satisfaction surveys show positive responses from families for their Welcome Groups. A multidisciplinary team, working together with families, reviews a child’s strengths and needs while kids participate in recreation activities. It’s an approach that enables observation, collaboration, and facilitates engagement, promotes connection to other families, giving everyone a comfortable environment to share stories and ask questions. Caregivers report the connection with other families was most beneficial, along with the chance to learn more about services—including recreation, gaining community connections, and having help to navigate services. 

Peer recognition is an especially meaningful measure of impact. Kudos to presenters:
Karli Bourque, Recreation Therapist
Angela Zajczenko, Early Childhood Resource Specialist
Lindsay Bray, Clinical Leader

and to the entire team, including: 
Ally Stanhope-Aultman, Quality Specialist, McMaster Children's Hospital Ron Joyce Children's Health Centre
Lidia Mateus, Project Coordinator, McMaster Children's Hospital Ron Joyce Children's Health Centre

Congratulations as well to the People’s Choice Award runner up, Presenter and Physiotherapist Lesley Prevost for the poster: KidsInclusive's Journey: response to Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. 

During strategic planning, KidsInclusive embraced the organization’s responsibility to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations to make a difference to the health outcomes of their Indigenous clients. The centre had been serving kids and families from the James Bay Coast for close to 50 years. Moving from educating themselves on the recommendations and how these relate to their work, the KidsInclusive team worked to increase their awareness and understanding of the experiences of the Indigenous kids and families they serve. Four years plus later, KidsInclusive has an Indigenous Working Group that includes community representatives from the Metis Nation of Ontario and the Indigenous Health Babies Healthy Children Program.  The Calls to Action challenge all aspects of service delivery – calling on creative and innovative solutions to build equity. Yearly goals evolve as understanding, learning and empathy deepen. This poster highlights the agency’s learning journey, what’s been accomplished to date, and the journey forward as KidsInclusive continues to improve, and respond to the needs of the communities they serve.