The Child Life team at the IWK is made of Child Life specialists, a therapeutic clown named Buddington, and a music therapist who aim to make a patient’s experience at the IWK less stressful.
Nova Scotia
Katherine Simpson was born at 32 and a half weeks gestation via C-section at the IWK. Immediately upon birth the care team recognized several abnormalities in her – Katherine had one ear different than the other, her chin was small and she had 12 toes.
In March 2017, Jayda - an athletic and active then eleven-year-old - became ill with a fever and started vomiting. The next day when she began wheezing, Jayda’s parents, Lisa and Brent, rushed her to the IWK emergency department.
In December 2016, then 10-month-old Violet McInnis was diagnosed with an extremely rare cancer—infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Instead of being at home with family, Violet spent her very first holiday season critically ill at the IWK Health Centre.
When Cole Harbour, NS father-daughter team Brad and Alexis Crossley decided to enter the Trans Am Bike Race, they saw the US cross-country race as a platform they could use to encourage others to live an active lifestyle by raising funds for the IWK Health Centre.