‘No family turned away’: closing the gap in paediatric health care
When a child is sick, the whole family hurts. And when a child is critically ill or injured, a family’s life changes in a nanosecond.
In Canada, we are fortunate to experience relatively wide access to core institutions, including health care. What many may not realize, is that there is a significant gap in accessing paediatric health care, given that two thirds of our population don’t live in a city with a children’s hospital.
For the majority of families in our country, accessing life-saving specialized paediatric care often means travelling long distances; leaving homes, schools, jobs and support systems. The impacts of this long-distance travel include financial pressure, separating families and siblings, and at times, caregivers leaving the workforce.
The financial stress on families can be tremendous. Families travelling to Montreal, for example, will spend up to $15,000 in the first month alone on out-of-pocket expenses like transportation, accommodation, parking and food, to be by the side of their sick child. In Toronto, the same would cost up to $20,000.
The geography of our country and the vast distance required to travel to one of Canada’s 16 paediatric hospitals mean some families can incur debts that haunt them for up to five-and-a-half years, without reprieve.
This financial burden has the potential to last well beyond the child’s medical journey and could have long-term impacts for both the family and child. Research shows children who experience financial stress are more likely to grow up with mental health complications and long-term disability.
Additionally, as determined by UNICEF, Canada, which once ranked among the top 10 for children’s health outcomes among OECD countries, has fallen to 30th out 38 countries with respect to children’s physical health and 31st of 38 countries regarding children’s mental health.
Though Canada’s paediatric hospitals provide world-class care to children across the country, there’s one factor that profoundly characterizes a hospital stay — stress.
While families endure unthinkably devastating days, that stress is amplified for those who had to travel long distances to access treatment for their child and face the burden of financial hardship.
We know that families and caregivers who have access to essential services like food, accommodation and mental health supports are better positioned to make complex medical decisions, and that children of families who have these supports have better health outcomes.
These impacts demonstrate the need for support. Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Canada serves as the only national organization enabling access to Canada’s paediatric health care and, since inception, has supported more than 468,000 families with sick children.
Across the country, RMHC provides accommodation, meals, mental health, wellness programming and more for entire families while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital. This support reduces stress and isolation, eases financial burden and provides much needed respite from long days at the hospital. Across 35 program locations, RMHC saves families in Canada $57 million annually.
But remarkably, it’s not nearly enough.
Today, RMHC is unable to support up to 80 per cent of Canadian families who need our services due to a lack of space at an existing House, or no House at all where there is need. RMHC needs continued support to fill this critical gap in Canada’s paediatric health-care system.
Our vision for the future is no family turned away. November 20th is National Child Day, and this year, we must consider the systems we have in place that give children the best chance at being active participants in their own lives. Ensuring equal access to health care is a good place to start.
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Kate Horton is the President & CEO, Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada