CHEO initiative brings pediatric surgeries to rural areas

A new program is providing day surgery to children in rural communities in eastern Ontario, reducing surgical wait times and the distance families have to travel for medical care.

The initiative is part of the CHEO's Kids Come First Health Team, which has partnered with the Brockville General Hospital and Carleton Place & District Memorial Hospital.

Appendectomies, tonsillectomies and orthopedic surgeries are among the treatments children outside Ottawa can now access without having to travel to the big city.

Funding for the program comes from a $330 million-dollar initiative the province launched in 2023 to improve pediatric health care. More than $40 million of that funding went to hospitals in the Ottawa area.

While employees at Brockville General have been building the program since last fall, it was fully launched at the beginning of April. Pediatric surgeons from CHEO now perform surgeries at rural hospitals one day a week.

Heather Armstrong is a nurse at Brockville General Hospital. (Isabel Harder/CBC)

Lightening the load on families

That one day has made a difference, according to Tiffany Tamblyn, manager of surgical services at Brockville General Hospital. She said the program has already resulted in about 40 surgeries and has gotten children off waitlists.

"The biggest difference to [families] is the time," she said. "When you're on a waitlist and your child grows at a rapid pace, a year makes a big difference in a child's life.

Having surgeries closer to home has also reduced both emotional and financial burdens on young patients and their families.

"They're not travelling, they're closer to home," Heather Armstrong, a nurse at Brockville General Hospital said. "They can be with their friends and their families sooner."

Brockville resident and mother of three Hillary Shillington says travelling to get her children health care is incredibly stressful. (Isabel Harder/CBC)

Hillary Shillington, a Brockville resident and mother of three, said travelling to get her children health care is incredibly stressful. Her 13-year-old son has complex medical needs and has had to travel to Ottawa and Kingston for medical procedures.

While her son has not benefited from Kids Come First directly, Shillington said she knows the pain of having to travel for health care.

"You know you need to be at that bedside, but you know you've got another child at home whose normalcy has just flipped upside down," Shillington said.

Beyond rural communities

Michael Fuoco, urologist and chief of surgery at Brockville General Hospital, said the program's impacts are already being felt, even beyond Brockville.

"For [patients] to be able to get their care closer to home is a big deal," Fuoco said. "It also helps other patients at CHEO by opening up more O.R. time for other procedures."

Alessio Giannopoulos, 12, underwent a tonsillectomy in Brockville on Monday. (Submitted by Nikolaus Giannopoulos)

For 12-year-old Alessio Giannopoulos, the program has already been life-changing.

During a surgical consultation at CHEO in December, the Ottawa boy and his family were told told his inflamed tonsils and adenoids were obstructing about 95 per cent of his airway. That caused difficulty breathing, which affected his sleep and jeopardized his participation in competitive soccer.

Initially the family was told the only option was to wait a year for a tonsillectomy at CHEO, but his father Nikolaos got a call April 4 asking if he would like to come to Brockville instead. Alessio's tonsils were removed Monday.

"We know that his quality of life is going to improve dramatically from all this," Nikolaos Giannopoulos said. Alessio is expected to recover in time for this year's soccer season.

Tiffany Tamblyn is manager of surgical services at Brockville General Hospital. (Isabel Harder/CBC)

A collaborative effort

Tamblyn said the initiative came about after months of communicating with the surgical team at CHEO. In the fall, surgical teams at Brockville General Hospital toured CHEO and worked with surgeons to build the skills necessary to support pediatric patients.

Brockville General and Carleton Place & District Memorial hospitals have committed to a combined total of 300 surgeries by the end of March 2025. Staff in Brockville anticipate meeting or exceeding that number independently.

Tamblyn attributes this to the amount of collaboration between her hospital and CHEO.

"It really has been a beautiful thing," Tamblyn said. "We are very much hoping for a 50-year — at least — marriage."