July 11, 2023
Children with complex medical needs living in Windsor and Thunder Bay can now receive support closer to home, reducing their hospital visits and travel time. It’s a significant advancement that is largely due to the efforts of two Children’s Hospital nurse practitioners, Sydney Truelove and Katy Eager who run two satellite clinics.
These satellite clinics are part of the Complex Care for Kids Ontario (CCKO) program that provide care closer to home for children living with complex health needs.
“We assist medically complex kids and their families in their local communities to optimize their health and well-being,” says Truelove. “We do this while working in conjunction with LHSC pediatric specialists and the children’s care providers.”
LHSC’s Children’s Hospital is one of four CCKO ‘hubs’ in the province under the program established through the Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health (PCMCH). Each hub aims to provide integrated and coordinated care between health and social support services to enhance community services.
As nurse practitioners (NPs), Truelove and Eager were registered nurses who pursued advanced education and are now able to diagnose, order diagnostic tests, prescribe medications and consult other medical specialties. As one of the fastest-growing professions in health care, NPs’ additional education and nursing experience enable them to facilitate timely access to high-quality, cost-effective care.
"Medically complex and fragile children often face systemic inequities in our community and healthcare systems. Every day we strive to leverage our advanced education and diverse roles in teaching, research, leadership and clinical practice to address these gaps," says Truelove.
"Our mission is to enhance equitable care and inclusion for this vulnerable group through efforts such as ensuring food security, language support, improved accessibility, health literacy, social integration and an overall increase in the quality of holistic care."
Beyond their duties at the Children’s Hospital, Truelove and Eager also serve as adjunct faculty members at Western University’s Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing where they engage with students in the Masters of Nursing program to conduct diverse research projects. Currently, they are undertaking a quality improvement study based on parental and care provider feedback. They also provide resident teaching to medical doctors training to become pediatricians.
Having worked with pediatric patients and their families since 2005, Eager emphasizes the importance of care coordination and the delivery of that care closer to home whenever possible. She and Truelove travel to Windsor six times a year, and currently once a year to Thunder Bay, to deliver care for children in those regions.
“I’m proud of the advocacy the CCKO program provides by linking hospital and community supports to assist our families with medically fragile children," she says.
