Humber River Hospital Joins Kids Health Alliance - Enhancing Access to Paediatric Care, Closer to Home

TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2018 /CNW/ - As part of its mission to provide exceptional care for a healthier community, Humber River Hospital (Humber) is proud to announce it is joining Kids Health Alliance.

As part of the Alliance, Humber will collaborate with other organizations across the province to advance excellence and expertise in pediatric health care and work toward a common goal to improve the health of children and youth.

Humber is joining the Alliance's founding member hospitals - The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and CHEO ? and current community hospital partners ? Markham Stouffville Hospital, Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and Pembroke Regional Hospital. Through the partnership, Humber is improving access to coordinated, consistent, high-quality care for children, youth and families.

"We look forward to collaborating with Kids Health Alliance partners to access leading-edge research, expertise and knowledge that enhances the exceptional care we are providing for our patients," says Dr. Leon Rivlin, Chief, Emergency Department, Humber River Hospital. "We look forward to sharing Humber's innovative approaches to care, leveraging the Alliance's research and expertise to enhance access to exceptional care, closer to home, for our patients."

"Joining Ontario's preeminent providers of care for children and youth is the next step in our journey to provide exceptional care for a healthier community. We are eager to collaborate, as part of the Kids Health Alliance, to continue providing exceptional care for children and youth. We look forward to benefiting from this partnership as well as contributing toward it," says Barbara Collins, president and CEO, HRH.

Collins highlights Humber's use of technology and innovation such as the introduction of Pepper, a humanoid robot, which accompanies children in HRH's operating room to reduce anxiety, and the hospital's Totally Kidz After-hours Clinic, designed to complement care and offer follow-up for children and youth following treatment in the hospital's emergency department.

At Humber, the partnership will initially focus on enhancing pediatric care through the emergency department, before broadening scope to include the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, and inpatient pediatric care areas.

"Children, youth and their families have told us how complicated it can be to navigate a poorly coordinated and fragmented system. That's why we founded Kids Health Alliance," says Dr. Michael Apkon, Executive Chair of Kids Health Alliance and President and CEO of SickKids. "Kids Health Alliance is designed to help facilitate a coordinated and consistent approach to delivering high-quality, patient-centred pediatric care closer to home. On behalf of the KHA Board and existing community hospital partners, we are excited to welcome Humber River Hospital into a network that is committed to collaboration, improving efficiencies and ultimately providing improved care and experience for our patients."

About Humber River Hospital
Humber River Hospital (HRH) is North America's first digital hospital and the first hospital to implement a Command Centre to manage hospital systems, services and workflows. As one of Canada's largest acute care hospitals, HRH also operates one of the country's busiest emergency departments. Committed to compassionate, professional, respectful care, the hospital serves a vibrant and culturally diverse community of more than 850,000 residents in the northwest Greater Toronto Area. The 1.8 million square foot facility's design reflects lean, green and digital design principles. HRH operates 688 acute inpatient beds with 3,400 staff, approximately 700 physicians, and over 1000 volunteers. The hospital has formal affiliations with medical schools at Queen's University and University of Toronto. To learn more about Humber River Hospital, visit www.hrh.ca.

About Kids Health Alliance
Kids Health Alliance is a not-for-profit network of partners working to create a child- and family-centred, high quality, consistent, coordinated approach to pediatric health care. Our goal is to achieve a better child, youth and family experience, improve health outcomes and generate greater value.

Kids Health Alliance was founded by The Hospital for Sick Children, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and CHEO in June 2017.

Our vision is that that KHA will grow collaborations across the continuum of care to include additional community hospitals, community pediatrics, home care services, child development and rehabilitation services, mental health and others.

SOURCE Humber River Hospital