About CHEO's Family Advisory Council
CHEO’s corporate Family Advisory Council (FAC) provides guidance, recommendations and feedback to CHEO’s staff, physicians and Board of Directors about what matters to families. FAC is made up of 25 parents, caregivers and former patients each with a passion for helping to enhance the CHEO experience for other families.
Made up of members with diverse experience using CHEO’s services—from mental health to gender diversity, from development and rehabilitation to cardiology and everything in between—FAC provides a voice for the many different populations at CHEO. FAC is supported by CHEO staff from many departments, including the Senior Leadership team. Everyone works together to advance CHEO’s Partners in Health Declaration of Values.
What we do
The FAC participates in discussions, presentations and workshops, shares different perspectives and partners on important CHEO projects and initiatives. FAC partners directly with CHEO staff, always focusing on the same goal of creating the best life for every child and youth.
For example, we regularly:
- Advise on programs and changes that can enhance the quality of care and services at CHEO – e.g. Caregiver Exception Process, Virtual Care, Kids Come First COVID-19 Care Clinic.
- Sit on committees throughout CHEO where we ask questions, share our thoughts and bring a family voice to discussions – e.g. NICU Family Centred Care Committee, MyChart User Advisory Group, Interview Panels.
- Share our personal experiences and stories with staff, physicians, and students to teach the principles of patient and family-centred care – e.g. presenting to new members of Team CHEO at their orientation session.
- Prepare and present our annual report of achievements and contributions to a sub-committee of CHEO’s Board of Directors.
Why it matters
At CHEO, children, youth and families are all partners in health. Partnering together, the FAC provides key input, feedback and guidance across programs and services, ensuring that the patient-family perspective is included in decision making at all levels of care.
Hear from our FAC executive on what partnering means to them.
Jennifer Drew
I joined the Family Advisory Council at CHEO out of sheer gratitude for the outstanding care provided to my son during an extended hospitalization as a result of an emergent and life-threatening diagnosis. Now that my son's condition is stabilized, I have the time, energy and unique lived experience to proactively give back to CHEO.
Throughout the pandemic, we have been embedded in CHEO working groups and strategic committees set up in response to unprecedented demands on the pediatric care system. This demonstrates CHEO’s commitment to partnering with children, youth and families to help achieve the vision of "the best life for every child and youth".
Nicole Giles
Families are partners in care. I belong to the FAC because I believe that family voices are core to how CHEO provides the best life for every child and youth. When our son had major surgery, I was able to go into the operating room with him, sing to him and hold him as he fell asleep. I was able to do that because FAC expressed the importance of having a parent be with their child until that point and because CHEO’s leadership listened. I was a member of CHEO’s Incident Management Team as we grappled with COVID-19 and I worked hard to help ensure that families remained part of patient care teams during the pandemic. I am grateful to be a member of FAC and to be able to give back to this remarkable pediatric health-care centre. FAC matters.
Angie Hamson
My son has had a number of surgeries and I have always been impressed with the quality of care we received as a family. I joined FAC because I wanted to give back to CHEO and ‘pay it forward’ to other families. I partner with CHEO because it is important to bring the voices of lived experience into discussions on policy. We connect the boardroom to the bedside and offer our lived expertise to help shape ongoing operations, program development and strategic directions.
The discussions we have at FAC cover a range of topics and the variety never ceases to amaze me. My FAC colleagues share their perspectives so openly and honestly and I am continually impressed by their strength and courage. I learn from them every time we speak.
Our vision and values
| Vision |
| We share CHEO’s vision of creating the best life for every child and youth. |
| Values |
| Our values are: respect; inclusion; transparency, and partnership. |
Through our vision and values, we are committed to:
- Working with CHEO to continue to find ways to improve care.
- Thinking about the bigger picture and how everything connects, instead of focusing on issues by themselves.
- Remembering families have different experiences and being inclusive, so that the needs of all families can be met at CHEO.
- Supporting CHEO to get feedback from, and partner with, many children, youth and families.
How to join
Would you like to partner with other families and staff to make CHEO the best it can be? If you are a parent, caregiver or former CHEO patient—with recent experience at CHEO—we encourage you to apply to join CHEO’s FAC.
We’re looking for people who are able to:
- Speak comfortably in a group.
- Use your personal experience to help provide advice and not to promote one solution or point of view.
- Listen and hear different thoughts and ideas.
- See beyond your own experience to think broadly for all families.
In addition to the corporate FAC, please see Share your voice for other opportunities to engage at CHEO.
If you feel like you would make a good addition to CHEO’s corporate FAC, please fill out our online application form.
CHEO’s Family Engagement Lead will follow up with interested applicants to discuss next steps. This typically begins with a simple phone call to discuss your interests. We are happy to make accommodations for any accessibility needs.
Questions? Contact the Family Engagement Lead:
- phone: 613-737-7600 extension 3078
- partnersinhealth@cheo.on.ca
In addition to the corporate FAC, CHEO has many other ways to get involved, including our: