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CHEO community care program helps kids get back to school for 3 years running
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 09:00 AM
For Wyatt Scott, September brings more than just the usual back-to-school jitters.
At 11 years old, he grapples with unique physical and emotional hurdles stemming from brainstem dysgenesis, a rare genetic condition that impacts his central nervous system. This condition demands full-time care, particularly during meals, as Wyatt struggles with motor coordination and requires supervision to eat safely.
That means, unlike most kids, he requires a lot of in-school support, including a nurse, physiotherapy and

Donor-funded headphones help family attend wedding
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 03:13 PM
An Ottawa family was able to attend a momentous, once-in-a-lifetime event thanks to the can-do attitude and swift action by a CHEO social worker and her team.
Atreus Samra, who just turned six, was recently diagnosed with autism. He has significant sensory challenges that, for Atreus, means he doesn’t sleep very much, and he is very sensitive to stimuli like noise and water.
Atreus also requires a strict routine. For example, the family must do groceries on the same day, at the same location, each week.
“He likes consistency...

"We're like a little family."
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 07:00 AM
Meet Anick Labrèche, Speech-Language Pathologist in the Clinic for Augmentative Communication.
Anick’s first connection to CHEO started at a young age. Anick was born with microtia – a small ear – and atresia of the external ear canal – this means she doesn’t hear out of her right ear. At 10 years old, she had multiple surgeries at CHEO to reconstruct her external ear.
Her second connection to CHEO is through volunteering with the First Words Preschool Speech and Language Program and the Clinic...

CHEO – A dream come true for Jeanette McNalty
Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2024 07:00 AM
Meet Jeanette McNalty, Occupational Therapist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Inpatient Medicine
Jeanette has always known she wanted to work in health care – her mom was a nurse, after all. So Jeanette went to Brock University intending to become a pediatrician.
Her time at school inspired her to become an occupational therapist (OT). She finished her bachelor’s and master’s, and then worked in schools for 12 years.
“It would be so cool to be an OT in the NICU. I love feeding, I...

How volunteering helped Divya find her path
Posted on Tuesday, September 03, 2024 06:30 AM
Meet Divya Massilamani, Clinical Administrative Assistant in Genetics
As a high school student, Divya dreamed of going into medicine, specifically pediatrics. To complete her mandatory volunteer hours, she volunteered at CHEO and quickly realized that there was more to this hospital than she thought. With so many ways she could get involved with kids, Divya realized there was no better place to work than CHEO.
While getting her Bachelor of Science, Divya got a short contract as a project...