Kids Comes First Health Team offers virtual backpack with back-to-school resources

Sep. 11, 2020

The Kids Come First Health Team is coming together to support kids, parents, school boards, teachers and other health-care professionals with their questions and concerns about returning to school during COVID-19. These resources are now in a single location to make it easy for everyone to find the information they need. 

Back-to-school season is always an anxious time, but this year is having a particularly profound effect on families. Over the summer, the Kids Come First Health Team, which includes school boards, family partners, CHEO and Ottawa Public Health, has produced a variety of materials to help the community and its families navigate the unprecedented complexity of going back to school during this COVID-19 pandemic. Contributors to these documents and audio recordings include infection prevention experts, infectious disease physicians, educators, family partners, complex care physicians and others. The web page, the Kids Come First virtual backpack, is filled with the resources created to date. And like a backpack, whenever there is more information we think you may find useful, we will drop it in.

These resources include: 

• tips for families and caregivers with children going back to school, 
• guidance to health-care professionals for children with chronic medical conditions returning to school,
• guidance for school reopening, and an audio archive of the virtual town halls from September 1 and 2, 2020 for parents and caregivers of medically complex children and youth attending OCDSB, OCSB, CEPEO and CECCE schools. 

New! Back-to-school resources

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Media contact

media@cheo.on.ca

About Kids Come First Health Team

Kids Come First Health Team includes over 60 partner organizations, family and youth partners, 1,089 physicians, and 2,535 individuals who are committed to making child and youth health services easier to obtain; helping eastern Ontario’s Ontario Health Teams provide care to children and youth; and to supporting physicians and clinical leaders who provide care to children, youth and families.  Our initial priority populations include: children and youth with mental health and addictions as well as those with medically complex needs. 

About CHEO

Dedicated to the best life for every child and youth, CHEO is a global leader in pediatric health care and research. Based in Ottawa, CHEO includes a hospital, children’s treatment centre, school and research institute, with satellite services located throughout Eastern Ontario. CHEO provides excellence in complex pediatric care, research and education. We are committed to partnering with families and the community to provide exceptional care — where, when and how it’s needed. CHEO is a founding member of Kids Health Alliance, a network of partners working to create a high quality, standardized and coordinated approach to pediatric health care that is centred around children, youth and their families. Every year, CHEO helps more than 500,000 children and youth from Eastern Ontario, western Quebec, Nunavut and Northern Ontario.