Lori Ives-Baine
The Hospital for Sick Children supports families who
have had a child die that has been in their care, as either
an inpatient or outpatient. Our Pathways Grief Support
Program has been in place for 7 years and offers resources
and support, along with access to therapy for families of
children from pre-birth to 21 years.
With the unprecedented experiences of COVID on our
families, we have had to transition our clinical services
for bereavement support from in person groups and
psycho-educational support1 to online methods. With
engagement and requests of the families we serve, we
have been able to extend this support in anticipation of
a second and third wave. Throughout this transition, the
Pathways program has ensured that support continues to
exist despite limited physical access to people. Our perspective
of all of this includes that creativity and responsiveness
can be quickly brought into play when issues of
access suddenly change.
We are evaluating each event in order to ensure that we
continue to meet the needs of our populations.
We encourage others to think outside the box in these
times to offer what is needed for grieving families.