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Children Creating Change:

The Children and Youth Advisory Council at LHSC

The meeting begins like a typical committee gathering might. Members sit down at a long board table. The pre-meeting small talk is minimal. Some people rush in late in a flurry. Everyone is ready to work.

But there are some differences.

Those who are late have had to rely on a ride from their Mom or Dad, or the school bus was late. The small talk is mostly the committee advisors asking the members how their first week back at school was. And getting a snack is every committee member’s first priority.

This is the first fall meeting of the Children and Youth Advisory Council (CYAC) of LHSC’s Children’s Hospital.

The CYAC was established in 2005 to bring new and creative ideas into the Children’s Hospital to enhance patient and family care, through the children themselves. The committee is made up of current and past patients as well as siblings of patients. This group knows the hospital well, unfortunately because of their frequent visits and sometimes, long stays.

Steven Maclean, a 16-year old member of the Council, has been in and out of Children’s Hospital since he was born prematurely at 26 weeks. His mother, Ruth MacLean, RN, PCCU encouraged Steven to join the CYAC and offer his advice from the patient’s perspective. Steven says, “I just want to make the experience for others better – both the patients and their families at the hospital.”

Isolation survival kits

The CYAC started the creation of ‘Isolation Survival Kits’ filled with activities for children in isolation for more than seven days. Each kit is themed towards the gender and age, and contains entertaining and distractive items such as puzzles, bead projects, flashlight, door decorations and more. So far the group has provided 60 bags to children and youth in the hospital.

The group has also initiated a process to improve food choices for hospitalized children. They met with Deb McKinley, Director of Food Services, to increase their understanding of the food service system and to provide suggestions for input. The suggestions included adding the cafeteria menu to the hospital menu and provide a runner from the hospital cafeteria to the inpatient floors. This suggestion is still under review, but the council also had the chance to taste test some of the existing and new food for inpatients and provide their input.

For children like 10-year old Stephanie Singeris, being part of the council allows her to give her ideas from the time she spent being with her younger brother who was in the Paediatric Critical Care Unit. During her months spent colouring at the nurses desk, she learned a thing or two about providing great care, and is happy to provide this real-life experience at the meeting to her fellow committee members.

Each member of the CYAC has a unique perspective, but all center on enhancing the patient and family care experience.