Pursuing Top-Level Care

Sainte-Justine UHC is a world-renowned mother-child university hospital centre. Its innovative research projects, expert doctors and health professionals, state-of-the-art equipment and forward-thinking health promotion programs have made it a leader in the field.

To support Sainte-Justine in its mission of excellence, the Foundation aims for maximum value, ensuring that each dollar donated makes a tangible difference in children’s lives.

Donations are allocated to the following areas:

The Child as the Focus of the Care

We need the support of our donors now more than ever to respond to the huge and ongoing demand at Sainte-Justine.

Unlike hospitals for adults, Sainte-Justine requires more specialized equipment and facilities to meet the specific needs of premature babies, newborns, young children, teenagers, and mothers-to-be.

Pediatric care is also more complex than adult care. Because the brain and body of a child are still developing, it is essential to apply the appropriate healthcare protocols.

Here are some concrete, recent examples of achievements made possible through the generosity of our donors:

• Creation of a hybrid cardio-pediatric operating room. Unique in Canada, the room is used to concurrently perform conventional heart surgery and interventional catheterization procedures on fetuses in utero, newborns and older children;
• Purchase of ultrasonograph equipment for high-risk pregnancies;
• In the Oncology department and just recently in Neonatology, the installation, of a Vocera wireless communication system to facilitate communication among nurses, doctors and their young patients, and to enable rapid response in emergency situations;
• Development of programs such as music and art therapy, and visits from the “Dr. Clown” team, designed to promote recovery;
• Creation of a centre of excellence in health promotion;
• Creation of a centre of excellence in pediatric palliative care and long-term follow-up of critically ill patients.

Research: Taking pediatric care to the next level

The pioneering research conducted at Sainte-Justine aims to advance understanding of disease etiology and to develop new diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive measures to continually improve care and children’s quality of life.

With close to 200 researchers and a budget of over $30 million, the Sainte-Justine UHC Research Centre has made a number of groundbreaking discoveries:

• Preventive pharmacologic treatment that greatly reduces the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission;
• A screening test for neurological disorders in premature babies;
• A test to diagnose scoliosis (a deformation of the spine) and assess its progression. This is a major scientific breakthrough that could benefit millions of children;
• Detection of genes that indicate a predisposition to leukemia and are likely to be triggered by environmental factors.

Teaching: Ensuring continuity and the pursuit of excellence

As the only pediatric university hospital centre in Québec, Sainte-Justine is in charge of providing the best medical training possible to the physicians of today and tomorrow. More than 80% of Québec’s pediatricians complete their training at Sainte-Justine, in affiliation with Université de Montréal.

Every year, Sainte-Justine:

• trains close to 4,000 students with various areas of specialization in the health sciences;
• provides clinical monitoring programs to doctors from here and abroad;
• awards grants for the ongoing training of nursing staff.

Given its growing research and healthcare needs, Sainte-Justine aims to double the number of grants awarded over the next five years. It will also seek to attract and retain skilled doctors and researchers by creating a stimulating work environment and appealing conditions.

Health promotion

Sainte-Justine’s mission is to create an environment conducive to improving the health and well-being of patients, their families and employees. Accredited as a “Health Promoting Hospital” by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2007, Sainte-Justine UHC promotes healthy lifestyles by educating mothers-to-be and families visiting the hospital, and by running awareness campaigns for the general public.

Highly effective health promotion initiatives to date include:

• L’UniverSanté des familles, a program that provides parents with information and tools on disease prevention and health promotion;
• Les Éditions du CHU Sainte-Justine, which distributes publications worldwide on all aspects of children’s health;
• The J. A. de Sève Chair in Nutrition, which conducts research to halt the progression of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and lipid diseases.
• The Centre of Excellence in Health Promotion, created in tandem with the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, which reinforces Sainte-Justine’s leadership in this area and seeks to ensure optimal childhood development.