BLOOM becomes part of Holland Bloorview's new website

By Louise KinrossHolland Bloorview is launching a new website at the end of August, and BLOOM will be a part of it! Rather than standing alone, BLOOM will be integrated into one site with the hospital and our research institute and foundation. The new website has been designed with input from children and families. It features gorgeous, large images, as you can see in the screen shot above, is much easier to read and has enhanced accessibility. Visitors...

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Click click. Dress your chair with stylish, snap-on accessories

By Louise KinrossIt’s a bit of bling for the wheelchair, and security and control for the user. Lucy Jones—named one of the world’s brightest entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine in 2016 for designing clothes for people who use wheelchairs—launches a new line of wheelchair accessories today in New York City.A small US$49 metal clamp with a dock that fits on manual wheelchair tubing is being sold with two leather clutch bags and a cupholder that...

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'Foolishness' plays a critical role in rehab

By Louise KinrossThe ‘fool’ in Shakespeare’s plays and the ‘trickster’ in Indigenous stories held an important role in upending the status quo. A Holland Bloorview paper published this week in the Journal of Medical Humanities notes that the foolishness of therapeutic clowns—their emotional vulnerability and willingness to fail—is at the heart of their work with hospitalized children, producing a ‘joy without demands.’ Clown practices,...

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Diverse dolls help children 'appreciate themselves as they are'

By Louise Kinross Winnie Mak is part of a multicultural family. She is Chinese, from Hong Kong, and her husband Rafael is French and Greek. They live in London, U.K., and after their son Alex, now 4, was born, Winnie learned that the vast majority of dolls were white, girls and able-bodied. She wanted to create soft dolls targeted to boys and girls that “reflect the diversity of the world.” So she launched One Dear World with four dolls...

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Spiral Garden means freedom, creativity and time together

By Louise KinrossThis summer is bittersweet for brothers Osmond (above right) and Edmond Shen (left). That’s because it’s the last one they’ll spend together in Spiral Garden. Osmond, who is 21, has been attending the artist-run camp in the ravine behind Holland Bloorview since he was five, and is graduating out of the program. Edmond, now nine, has been coming for four years. The camp brings children with and without disabilities together under...

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'I open up a world for kids to be able to participate in'

By Louise KinrossI have a strong image of Laurel Robinson (standing above), a speech-language pathologist at Holland Bloorview. Laurel is always racing up the path to the hospital, or back down to the parking lot, pulling a cart on wheels behind her. The cart is packed with alphabet boards, picture displays, photos and technology she uses to create a way for children who don’t speak to communicate. Laurel, who is usually on the road driving...

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When a child has 24-7 needs, mothers bear the costs

An early photo of two of Sheila Jennings' childrenBy Louise KinrossAs the mom of a son who had severe asthma and a life-threatening immune condition, Sheila Jennings learned firsthand that it was impossible to work outside the home and tend to her child with complex health needs. “My interest in the support rights of mothers of severely disabled children began after I got divorced and set up my law practice while caring for three children,” she...

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