Christine Bouchard
Nursing Director, Cancer Care Mission, MUHC
Cedars CanSupport
Aims to ensure that cancer patients and their families benefit from compassionate care and understanding from the time of diagnosis and treatment, through post-treatment, and when necessary end of life. Its professional teams and volunteers offer support groups, educational services, such as new patient orientation booklets, and programs, humanitarian aid, as well as complementary therapies such as art, music, meditation, and yoga.
Talia Baily
Sarah's Fund for Cedars Ambassador
Sarah's Fund for Cedars
Since being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was only 8, Sarah Cook has dedicated most of her young life to helping kids and teenagers treated at the Montreal Children’s Hospital on the ward that bears her name. The many projects supported by Sarah’s Fund since 2001 have had an immeasurable impact on our young hematology-oncology patients.
Mission
Sarah’s Fund is dedicated to support the needs of the Pediatric Hematology – Oncology patients and their families by providing the best patient care to improve the quality of life for young cancer patients on the Sarah’s floor (7B) at the new Montreal Children’s Hospital.
Vision
The Sarah’s Fund strives to make a meaningful difference in every child’s life that has been touched by cancer at the Montreal Children’s Hospital at the MUHC.
We honour Sarah Cook and her Dream to help other children battling life-threatening illness.
Programs
Pet Therapy
This program provides young cancer patients with an opportunity for social and sensory interaction with therapeutic animals in the hospital setting. Sarah’s Fund contributes to helping reduce stress and contributes to the healing and quality of life of the young cancer patients on Sarah’s Floor.
Dr. Clown
This program provides clowns who bring smiles and joy to young cancer patients on Sarah’s Floor. These therapeutic clowns, Dr. Fifi and Dr. Pedalo, help to relieve the stress of hospitalization by transporting the patient into a world of imagination and therapeutic play.
Music Therapy
This program offers music therapists who use elements of music such as rhythm, melody and harmony to promote, maintain and restore physical, emotional and spiritual health. On Sarah’s Floor, the oncology-hematology in patient unit, this music health care environment helps the patient healing process.
Nursing Education
Nurses are at the heart of every hospital. Investing in nursing education allows the dedicated hematology – oncology nursing team to be at the forefront of their profession by staying abreast of best practices and to offer the highest possible standard of care to the young cancer patients.
Humanitarian Services
This program was created to aid the families who are in need of financial assistance due to the stresses that a child’s illness can place on a family. Sarah’s Fund provides the families with essential needs such as, meal tickets, parking passes, transportation for medical needs and accommodations for families living in regions outside Quebec. This initiative allows families to focus on the care, well being and treatments of their child.
Premium Wi-Fi on Sarah’s Floor
This program offers free access to the premium Wi-Fi service on Sarah’s Floor. This service has an enormous impact on patients and families – especially during the isolation required due to Covid-19. Kids on Sarah’s Floor can keep up with their studies, communicate with friends and family and enjoy premium entertainment, and their parents do not have to worry the impact on their own data packages. During a long hospital stay, this is a precious gift for everyone.
Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders - C17 Council
The C17 program provides invaluable oversight of academic clinical trials, as well as platforms and resources to share the best practices across the country. The C17 program has developed a website for families: U-Link.care - to help search for early phase clinical trials in Canada and financial/ logistical support, especially if the trial is out-of-province. Sarah’s Fund is proud to support C17 which offer the best trial opportunities for our patients on Sarah’s Floor.
PROFYLE Clinical Research
The PROFYLE project involves the genomic sequencing of hard-to-treat tumours. The hope is that we will find an actionable mutation in the tumour that can be targeted by a drug -also referred to as “precision medicine”. This initiative allows us to explore different avenues to better understand and find new ways to follow and treat devastating tumours in children and young adult.
C.A.R.E Program
The C.A.R.E. project will increase resources in order to address the unique psychological needs of Hematology-Oncology patients and their families on Sarah’s Floor. This initiative will improve access to sustained and timely psychotherapeutic intervention to a larger number of children and adolescent receiving treatment. This program will offer psychoeducational / supportive group intervention for parents of children receiving care in the hematology-oncology division.
Pavillon Caramel
Pavillon Caramel is there to help families during critical times. The new facility will house parents of sick children facing long stays at The Montreal Children’s Hospital. Pavillon Caramel will offer all the comforts of home, only steps away from the Glen site, at no cost. It will allow parents to rest and stay close to their sick child: A dream that is about to come true and Sarah’s Fund is proud to sponsor this great initiative.
Dr Xing-Ziggy Zeng
Surgeon, Division of Gynecologic Oncology
Cedars Cancer Heroes Program
Heroes among us.
Honor a physician, nurse, volunteer or staff member who goes above and beyond.
A Cedars Hero is someone who goes above and beyond for patients and their families, in support of our mission to offer every cancer patient at the MUHC compassionate care that focuses on them as a person, not on their disease.
This special person, your Cedars Hero, will be personally notified that a donation has been made in their honour and will be presented with a unique Cedars Heroes pin, recognizing their exceptional level of patient care. All Cedars Heroes are publicly recognized on signage at the Cedars Cancer Centre.
Dr. David Fleiszer
Surgical Oncologist
MUHC Patient Education Office
Everyone has the right to understand.
The MUHC Patient Education Office is dedicated to patient education. Using new and innovative approaches that are rich in images with limited text, we develop material to support patient and family understanding and to assist MUHC patients as they make informed decisions with their healthcare teams. All material is developed by interprofessional teams of clinical content experts (including nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, pharmacists, nutritionists and others) working with healthcare educators and artists.
Integrated within all patient education material are principles of health literacy and learning, in support of a truly patient-centered approach to care. The MUHC Patient Education Office is committed to ensuring that patients and families receive timely, clear, and helpful information, based on individual requirements and models of comprehensive care.