Children's Health The Focus Of HSN's Annual General Meeting

By: Nick Liard

Children took top priority as Health Sciences North held it’s Annual General Meeting this evening..

Director of Family and Child Programs Dr. Sean Murray says children’s health care has come along way in the last 10 years with the development of NEO Kids at HSN.

Murray says there is a long way to go, and that includes a new facility that would cut out travel to Ottawa or Toronto.

Dr. Nicolas Steinmetz was the second guest speaker and says a brain takes 25 years to fully develop and the care the child receives will play a major role in health later in life.

Steinmetz is the past Executive Director of the Montreal Children’s Hospital and is a retired associate professor of pediatrics at McGill University.

NEO Kids currently has six pediatric physicians who deal with 35 thousand patient visits every year, and the current facility can’t expand anymore.

Murray and his team are in the planning stages of a new NEO Kid’s facility.

Heath Sciences North also announced, for the third year in a row, they saw a surplus financially.

HSN ended the fiscal year with a surplus of 117 thousand dollars, but HSN Board Chair Michael McCann says there are still challenges ahead facing a rise in service demands, while hospital funding remain static.

McCann says it’s impressive that HSN has been able to achieve that in a time where all hospitals are facing sizeable financial constraints.