The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is launching a new program it says will bring care closer to families, and tackle long wait lists.
The Kids Come First team will bring its services to Brockville General Hospital and Carleton Place & District Memorial Hospital to complete day surgeries like appendectomies, tonsillectomies, hernia removals and orthopedic surgeries.
“Delayed surgeries can harm the development of local children and youth. This collaboration gives them access to the day surgery they need without further delay and closer to home,” Mary Wilson Trider, CEO of the Mississippi River Health Alliance at Carleton Place Hospital, said in a statement.
Surgeries at the hospitals have already begun.
Officials say the goal is to complete 300 procedures by 2025, and expand to even more hospitals in eastern Ontario.
The program comes after the Ford government announced an additional $330-million in annual funding in pediatric healthcare last year.