You improve the lives of children and youth at CHEO
Without you, the work at CHEO would not be possible. In good times and in hard times, you are part of what keeps CHEO moving forward. Thanks to you, CHEO can build healthier futures for children and youth while responding to the daily needs required of this region’s only pediatric hospital. Whether it is ensuring children receive their chemotherapy, an open heart surgery, a cast on a broken bone, a simple test or enrollment in one of the hundreds of research studies, CHEO is equipped and ready for every child and youth that comes through our doors.
What’s Up With Kids These Days?
Canadians get the sense that children and youth have more health challenges than ever before. In fact, 4 out of 5 Canadians think that kids these days are facing more health issues than kids in the past. And they would be right. Over the past few decades, there’s been a dramatic increase in the number and complexity of pediatric health issues that kids are dealing with today.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, kids often visited the emergency department or the hospital for breathing issues like asthma, injuries like broken bones, and abdominal problems like colitis. Today, more children and youth come in for mental health crises, physical disabilities or life-threatening allergies, diabetes or cancer. Many experience chronic pain, deal with autism, have congenital heart defects, or live with rare diseases, to name a few.
The world has also changed. From social media’s impact to the disruption caused by a global pandemic, the struggles kids are facing are very different than they used to be.
As Canada’s capital continues to change, grow, and become more diverse, kids these days also need pediatric care that can evolve to serve what they need: accessible and innovative health care solutions when they need them most.
Over the next 10 years, CHEO will remodel, transform, and build to adapt to the growing and increasingly complex needs of children and youth. CHEO also has a strategic commitment to reduce to 50 percent the number of children waiting for services beyond what is clinically recommended. To do so, CHEO Foundation is launching a $220 million fundraising campaign to transform pediatric care. Join us—because kids these days could really use your help. Click here to learn more.