About Us
The Health Sciences North's NEO Kids Children's Treatment Centre is a family-centered community-based rehabilitation facility providing assessment, treatment, consultation, and education to children and young adults with motor and communication impairments. NEO Kids CTC strives for the best quality of life and health for its clients by enhancing their self-esteem and facilitating their function, independence, and community participation.
Hours of Operation
The NEO Kids Children's Treatment Centre regularly operates between the hours of 7:30am – 4:30pm, Monday to Friday. However, each therapist and staff member may be available within different time frames. Special events, clinics, and workshops may also be scheduled outside of regular working hours.
A message from the NEO Kids CTC Medical Director, Administrative Director and Clinical Manager
Sudbury’s NEO Kids Children’s Treatment Centre serves a very important need in our community, as well as throughout the region, with rural outreach services. We measure our success by the number of children and families we are able to reach with our limited resources. Our commitment to the children and their families is to provide the best care in a family-centred manner. This means the child and their family are part of the care team and participate in decisions that impact their care. This also means we take great care and effort to ensure families have a say in all we do and feel connected to the process.
We are dedicated to ensure safe, enjoyable, and effective treatment for all of our families. Collaboration with partners throughout the province, participation in research, and close working relationships with local paediatricians all serve to enhance our NEO Kids CTC’s capacity and involvement in our community.
We endeavour to be fully accountable to our clients and our many funders seeking to have the highest quality of care. Our reality is that demands for our services continue to grow. Strategic planning and innovation are keys to our continued success. The need to become more efficient and ensure we have best practices in place have never been more vital to sustaining service and meeting the growing demand for service.
We are very appreciative of the ongoing support that we receive from service groups, citizens, and other community agencies. We want to extend our thanks to those individuals and organizations who contribute to our Children’s Treatment Centre and to the children and youth that we serve.
Dr. Sean Murray, Medical Director
Natalie Kennedy, Administrative Director
Joanne Huneault, Clinical Manager
History
The creation of the NEO Kids Children's Treatment Centre (CTC) was a parent driven initiative begun in the late 1960s by a group of parents who volunteered their time to provide programming for their physically disabled children. In 1976, the Children' s Treatment Centre was sponsored by, and moved to Laurentian Hospital. Four classrooms, staffed by local School Boards, provided French and English academic instruction to children aged 4 to 18. Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists provided intensive rehabilitation services to facilitate each child's optimum function. Speech Language Pathology services were introduced in 1980.
The Centre moved off campus to the vacant St-Jerome School in 1988 because of the construction of the Cancer Treatment Centre. The Centre did not move back to its current location at Health Science North's Main Site until 2009. Over the years, the Centre has grown and changed considerably. Sally Spence began her career at the Centre as a physiotherapist and was the Clinical Manager for many years. She was a driving force and strong advocate for the NEO Kids Children's Treatment Centre and the children in this community. Sally passed away in March 2014. The Spirit of Sally Spence Award was developed in 2015 to recognize her many years of dedicated service and her significant contribution to this community. Recipients of the award are current and past clients of the NEO Kids CTC who enbody or strive to develop the qualities we remember most about Sally.
NEO Kids Children’s Treatment Centre is one of 20 in the Province, who share a similar mandate. We are part of an organization called the Empowered Kids Ontario (EKO).
Mission
As a caring, unique, and innovative paediatric rehabilitation facility serving the Manitoulin Sudbury Districts, the NEO Kids Children’s Treatment Centre works in partnership with families and community agencies to help children achieve their optimal potential.
Vision
Nurturing independence and celebrating success.
Family-Centered Care
Family-centered service is made up of a set of values, attitudes, and approaches to services for children with special needs and their families. Family-centered service recognizes that each family is unique; that the family is the constant in the person's life, and they are the experts on the child’s abilities and needs. The family works together with service providers to make informed decisions about the services and the supports the child and family receive. The strengths and needs of all family members are considered in family-centered service.
Guiding Principles
“We all want to help”, the manner in which we do it defines family-centered care. Within the NEO Kids Children’s Treatment Centre, a family-centered approach:
- Responds to family priorities
- Provides knowledge and skill
- Acknowledges and builds strength
- Promotes normalization
- Supports family decisions
- Creates confidence in decision making
- At all costs, keeps communication open
For more information regarding the NEO Kids Children's Treatment Centre and Health Sciences North Privacy Policies and Information, please visit www.hsnsudbury.ca.