When Dr. Melissa-Zoraya Corvalan Cifuentes meets with Félix Antoine, she does not see a disorder to treat. She sees a child. An 11-year-old boy. A boy who loves football and science, who dreams of becoming an astronaut . . . and a spokesperson, an engineer, a comic book artist, and video game designer! With his intellectual giftedness and ADHD, Félix Antoine is interested in literally everything. But his disorder also causes problems at school. He has a hard time concentrating, which means he makes a lot of careless mistakes and does not do so well on exams. These mistakes frustrate him a lot, which, in turn, affects his confidence and causes anxiety.

Yes, Dr. Corvalan Cifuentes could just see the ADHD and prescribe medication. But she also sees a child. Thus, in addition to medication, she suggests tricks to help him concentrate, writes a letter to the school to ensure Félix Antoine has access to all the support measures he needs, and tells his parents about resources that will teach him to manage his anxiety better.

This is in fact the very essence of how pediatrics is practised at the Notre-Dame Hospital: treating the patient, not the disease. To achieve this, care teams have an arsenal of tools at their disposal, specifically close relationships with community organizations and professionals from a wide variety of fields, who all work together towards a common goal: to offer children and their loved ones the medical, psychosocial, academic, and financial support they need to be healthy.

It is in this vein that Fondation Santé Urbaine is currently working on the funding of major expansion work of the Notre-Dame Hospital’s Pediatric Clinic. Originally designed for adults, the hospital needs spaces that are better suited to the realities of their young patients. 

Over the last five years, demand has continually grown and the hospital’s clientele has more than tripled. Thanks to Fondation Santé Urbaine, new examination and treatment rooms are being reconfigured, allowing the clinic to meet growing needs and treat patients in a welcoming and more child- and family-friendly setting.

Rooted in the neighbourhood, this project will turn the clinic into a real family health-care hub while taking some of the pressure off the city’s major children’s hospitals. More than just an expansion, this project is a promise for attentive, patient-based care, where every child will find a person who listens and the support and help they need to grow and thrive.

For Andrée Méthot, recreational activities coordinator in our CIUSSS residential and long-term centres, recreational activities are more than a way to pass the time: they are at the very heart of our identity. “Recreational activities are life,” she loves to say. A statement that rings so true when we see the impact of these activities on the residents in our centres—residents like former filmmaker Serge, who today lives at the Manoir-de-Verdun.

Through the centre’s social activities and meditation workshops, Serge struck a new balance between his physical and cognitive health and now focuses on making the most of every moment spent with his kids and grandkids.

The recreational activities coordinated by Andrée and her team and supported by Fondation Santé Urbaine are more than just leisure time: they are an integral part of the care approach. Tailored to the abilities and interests of each resident, they play a key role in maintaining residents’ physical, psychological, and cognitive health. They offer opportunities to move, think, communicate, and socialize and help maintain a person’s quality of life. To borrow one of Andrée’s expressions, “an activity-less life is no life at all!”

And the positive impact of these activities is not limited to the residents. For their loved ones, knowing our residents are still enjoying life, despite a loss of autonomy, is a huge comfort. To see them smile or hear stories about the activities they did is like a salve for the heart. A reminder that life in a CHSLD can still be full of happiness and meaning. 

Andrée sums it up perfectly: “a residential centre isn’t the end; it’s just another stage of life and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be joyful and full of wonderful discoveries.”