Winchester District Memorial Hospital is collaborating with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to expand a regional surgical program to allow children across the region to access the care they need sooner and further combat growing wait-lists for pediatric surgeries.
Winchester joins hospitals in Brockville, Carleton Place, Pembroke and Hawkesbury as partners in the Kids Come First initiative, whereby CHEO specialists perform certain lower-complexity day surgeries in the hospitals.
“With pediatric surgeries now taking place at five sites across the region, surgeons have more space and flexibility to care for kids and this capacity is critical to tackling these longstanding waitlists,” said Sabine Mersmann, President and CEO of Pembroke Regional Hospital and cochair of the Kids Come First Regional Pediatric Surgical Working Group.
“This collaboration expands our ability to get children into the operating room sooner and address health issues quickly,” said Dr. Jean Philippe Vaccani, working group co-chair and Chief of Surgery at CHEO.
To date, the program has seen approximately 800 surgeries completed by CHEO surgeons at regional and community hospitals. Continued expansion of the program could increase the number of surgeries by another 1,000, further reducing wait times for the region’s children and youth in a time of limited operating room capacity.
“We need creative, innovative solutions to urgently reduce surgical wait times, ease pressure on our busiest operating rooms, and deliver the care children need. We’re grateful to Winchester and our Kids Come First partners for their leadership and enthusiasm in supporting this innovative model,” said Vera Etches, President and CEO at CHEO.
“We are proud to collaborate with CHEO on a program that brings pediatric surgical care directly into our community, said Cholly Boland, CEO of Winchester District Memorial Hospital. “This partnership allows us to use our operating room capacity to support better access for the entire region.”
Kids Come First is a collaborative that features more than 60 organizations, youth and family partners and nearly 1,100 physicians that connects high-quality care for children and youth in the region to simplify their healthcare journey.
The regional surgical program is a testament to the collaboration of the region’s health-care providers to find innovative solutions to long-time issues such as surgical wait times. By shifting low-risk procedures and working with local hospitals, more children and youth can be seen within clinical windows and bring care closer to home.
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