THE LAST word
TEXT AND PHOTO BY Michelle Childs
Finding Hope for the Future IT WAS A LOVELY SUMMER DAY WHEN ELINA joined our family. For the first week, we experienced all the joys and trials normal for new parents. Then everything changed. We sat in a small, bland room numbly holding our precious daughter. In came a nurse with concern on her caring face and a rather blunt doctor that I was determined not to like. I prepared for battle “When the opportunity arose, as we listened to the I jumped at the chance to be evidence that our perfect daughter had been born on a parent panel that would with cystic fibrosis, a discuss the design of a new genetic disease for which ambulatory clinic.” there is no cure. With my arms crossed, eyebrows arched inward and fighting words at the ready, I thought, “How dare they carve this imposition on my perfect bliss?” We visited the clinic many times over the next while – weekly, monthly and then finally every three months. We learned, we laughed and we found hope. Little did I know at that first meeting how integral to our journey that kind nurse and that incredibly knowledgeable doctor would become. When the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to be on a parent panel that would discuss the design of a new ambulatory clinic. Our daughter visits this clinic a 38
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minimum of every four months for hours at a time. Any chance to reduce the stress of these appointments is greatly appreciated. The new Edmonton Oilers Ambulatory Clinic, opened this past October, is very welcoming for kids and their families. The reception desk is at a height that allows kids to be a part of the conversation, which is so important when you are raising a child with a chronic illness; they need to take an early role in their own self-care. Bright colours and thoughtful details exist throughout the clinic, many at a child’s eye level and on the ceilings above the procedure tables. The biggest difference we see is more clinic rooms, which means less chance of Elina being cross-infected from sitting in the waiting room. We can also set up a clinic “home base” with all of our coats, books, toys, medical notes and snacks. All the medical staff comes to us; we see a doctor, nurse, dietitian and physiotherapist in one place. This beautiful new facility is the place where we find the people we trust with our daughter’s life and the place we find hope for the future. I like to think that families receiving a difficult diagnosis will do so in a room that reflects the world-class care their child will receive at this clinic. Perhaps that will bring them some comfort as they also prepare for battle. And maybe, just maybe, they won’t feel the need to take it out on their poor doctor.
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S TO L L E RY C H I L D R E N ’ S H O S P I TA L F O U N DAT I O N
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2015-01-27 10:46 AM
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