Celebrating 50 years of caring, growing and healing

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.

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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 have a passion for it and I would love to get to do that one day,” she would say to student therapists on placement.

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Meet Michelle Vander Meer, Health Care Aide on Inpatient Surgery.
Michelle first came to know CHEO through her older brother. Throughout his teen years, he had multiple surgeries and Michelle would come to visit him in hospital to brighten his day.

“I remember being a visitor and how kind everyone was to him and to me,” says Michelle. “It always stuck with me how the kindness of others could shine so much light during a dark time.”

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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 for Augmentative Communication.

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Meet Allison Helmer, passionate Nurse Practitioner, at CHEO.

Growing up, Allison’s mother and both grandmothers were proud nurses. So, it was no surprise when she decided to follow in their footsteps.

Inspired by the experience of witnessing the birth of her godchildren, Allison applied to CHEO after graduating from Nipissing University and secured a nursing position on the surgical team. Shortly thereafter, she was presented with another opportunity at a different hospital. However, Allison chose to stay at CHEO due to her supportive manager, collaborative team, and the dynamic, fast-paced environment she thrived in.

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