When it comes to Canada’s critical shortage of developmental pediatricians, Dr. Golda Milo-Manson doesn’t hold back:
“We’re getting very close to a crisis.”
There are 850,000 children and youth with disabilities in Canada—and yet there are only 159 developmental pediatricians in the country, with 23% retiring in the next 5 years.
For Dr. Milo-Manson, something needs to change. And as the Vice President of Medicine and Academic Affairs at Holland Bloorview, she’s daring everyone to challenge what they think they know about training the next generation of developmental pediatricians in our health care system.
Our daring academic mandate
As Canada’s hospital for kids with disabilities, Holland Bloorview is filling urgent gaps in care. Through our teaching and learning programs, the hospital trains the next generation of healthcare professionals to become outstanding clinicians, advocates, innovators and teachers in childhood disability.
Our developmental pediatrics subspecialty residency and fellowship program is the largest in Canada, and thanks to The Slaight Family Foundation we are doubling the number of trainees each year. During their two-year fellowship at Holland Bloorview, pediatricians expand their knowledge around caring for kids with disabilities. Through core clinical rotations in different ambulatory clinics and inpatient units, trainees see a volume and range of disabilities at Holland Bloorview they wouldn’t elsewhere, Dr. Milo-Manson says.
Many graduates, like Dr. Tara Kennedy, take what they learned during their fellowship outside of Holland Bloorview’s walls and into communities across Canada and internationally. As a proud Maritimer, Dr. Kennedy became one of New Brunswick’s first developmental pediatricians after her fellowship. Since helping to establish the province’s therapeutic autism team in 2007, Dr. Kennedy has seen dramatic system changes.
But trained clinicians are just one important part of a child’s health care team. That’s why we also train the next generation of physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, recreational therapists, music therapists and more. The hospital trains 700 students annually who complement their post-secondary learning—and leave the hospital becoming advocates for childhood disability care.
Challenging the healthcare system
Through our teaching and learning programs, Holland Bloorview is filling urgent gaps in care at other children’s treatment centers, pediatric hospitals and community centers across the country. But with 23% of children with disabilities encountering healthcare professionals who are not familiar with their condition, it’s clearer than ever before that more needs to be done.
Filling these gaps is critical for kids like Alex, who stayed at Holland Bloorview for three months post-surgery. Living two hours away from Toronto, the 11-year-old says getting the care he needs can feel like playing a game of broken telephone.
Dr. Milo-Manson dares everyone to challenge the health care system as kids with disabilities deserve the best care, whenever they need it, no matter where they live.
“When children do not get access to health care providers who truly understand the impact of a child’s disability, proactive health care measures can’t be put in place,” Dr. Milo-Manson says. “When we dare, society can change. Communities can change our health care system for the better.”