Hospital and SickKids, has released a list of demands for Ontario’s next government to commit to within its first 100 days in office.“Now that we know that kids are really suffering on these wait lists and wait times that are clinically unsafe for them, we’ve come together and we’ve made a plan called ‘Make Kids Count,'” said Julia Hanigsberg, President and CEO of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.The Children’s Health Coalition wants the next government to commit to a $1 billion investment over four years in the Make Kids Count Action Plan, a cross-sectoral children’s health summit with government, children’s health-care organizations and health-care providers to agree on principles for a long-term provincial strategy, and to develop and release Ontario’s first-ever Children’s Health Strategy.
Party leaders clash over affordability, healthcare and environment during debate “We believe that if we do those things, we’re going to be in much better shape four years from now than we are today and that means kids are going to be happier, healthier, living the lives we all want kids to be living,” added Hanigsberg.According to the coalition, there are 16,000 children currently on waitlists for surgery in the province.“For a child, it’ll take twice as long to get an MRI than for the average adult in Ontario … kids are waiting way too long,” she said.Andrea Haefele, mother of 11-year-old Bella, who was diagnosed with global developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder and Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome, knows well that the pandemic has brought lengthy delays for treatments and surgeries.“There has been a huge gap in regards to her health care … we do have some virtual appointments here and there, however, this didn’t.