Rolling with Sarah

On Friday, January 31st, I was invited and had the opportunity to participate in a panel for the Board and Senior Leadership Retreat Engagement session with youth and families for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), where I sit on the Accessibility Committee. What a great discussion on how to involve patients and families in bettering the hospital moving forward. Events like this open important conversations that allow people to participate in their own care. It offers a chance for different perspectives to be heard. I was honored to be among them.

I feel grateful for the opportunity to give back to the place that did so much for me. It gives me a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that I am making the hospital a better place by contributing my perspective. I have also gained many personal skills from my participation. I now know how to sit on a committee, when to speak up, how to read policies and procedures, and how to take a project from conception to completion. These are all important life skills that volunteering for committees at CHEO have helped me learn.

I also learned a lot from hearing what the other panelists (patients, former patients, and parents) had to say. Their views on what would improve the hospital were interesting, and some of them I would never have considered before. Obviously my main contributions were when it came to the accessibility, but I was also able to offer my experience as a cancer patient.

At this event I was lucky enough to get a chance to meet the incoming new CEO, Dr. Vera Etches. I am looking forward to her being a great addition to the team. We engaged in a conversation about accessibility and she was very much a fan of our committee and what we do for the hospital.

Nights like this are proof CHEO is  connected to its community and is striving to do better for its patients and families by bringing them in to the conversation. In my opinion, one thing  I have always found is that CHEO listens well. I am happy for the opportunity to share my expertise and I will continue to sit on the Accessibility Committee and work with the hospital until I am no longer wanted, lol.

As a bonus I was given a super cute bear as a thank you for my participation and to commemorate the evening. His name is Jasper.