Kids Come First innovates to improve home care for kids and tackle skills shortages
Subscribe to News 
Back to Search
March 13, 2023
The Kids Come First Health Team, clinicians, parents and home-care agencies have launched an innovative training strategy to help tackle staff shortages and skills gaps. The goal of the new Centre of Excellence for Pediatric Home and Community Care Education is to build capacity, and better serve kids and their families in their homes and communities.
The Centre’s first focus is educating and preparing home-care workers to provide specialized care to infants, children and youth when they’re at home and at school in the Champlain region – bringing the same high-quality standard of pediatric expertise found at CHEO.
CHEO, on behalf of Kids Come First, manages pediatric home and community care in the region. This connection between home, community and hospital care is unique in Ontario; it means the Centre’s training is designed and offered with full insight into the medical and social needs of families returning home after care at CHEO.
“The Kids Come First Health Team understands that babies, kids and teens aren’t just tiny adults. They have specialized needs and we want to ensure they receive the specialized care they need,” says Jennifer Proulx, CHEO’s Vice-President of Child Development and Community Services. “Home-care organizations have been challenged to find enough workers with pediatric skillsets, so we’re bringing them this expertise through training and resources to make it more accessible to everyone.”
The Centre of Excellence offers education modules developed in collaboration by pediatric experts at CHEO, home-care agencies, parents and caregivers. A first module, launched in January, was well received and the organizations in attendance want to come back and learn more from future sessions offered by the Centre.
“Bringing the expertise of CHEO closer to home is just another way to ensure kids get the care they deserve,” says Alex Munter, CHEO’s President and CEO. “This is what Kids Come First should continue to do – leverage the expertise of its partners and bring new ideas to life to ultimately provide better access and improve outcomes for our children and youth.”
The Kids Come First Health Team is a partnership of more than 60 community-based organizations, physicians, and family and youth partners across Eastern Ontario, including CHEO, to better connect kids and families with the care they need. Learn more at Centre of Excellence for Pediatric Home and Community Care Education.
-30-