| Date Posted: | 2012-11-06 |
| Employment Type: | Temporary Fixed-term (0.8 – 1.0 FTE) |
| Hours per Week: | 30 hours per week (0.8 FTE) |
| Department: | NICU |
| Available: | Immediately |
| Description of Position: | The
Parent Liaison will be an active member of the neonatal
inter-professional health care team. In order to fulfill this role the
Parent Liaison must be a parent of a graduate from the NICU at SickKids
and will utilize wisdom of personal experience coupled with the unique
perspective of being a family member in a health care team. The Parent Liaison will enhance overall family engagement in their infants clinical course of treatment in the NICU. The Parent Liaison will establish improved communication processes with families to support their integration as a member of the Health Care Team. This will be achieved through the initiation, implementation and evaluation of parent activities in the NICU e.g. parent social time. Health education on how they can care for their infant in the NICU, provide guidance and support on understanding NICU practices e.g. hand hygiene. The NICU Parent Liaison will ensure the sustainability of parent programs and support future initiatives to support growth and coordinated care of the family care experience in the NICU environment. The Parent Liaison will demonstrate a commitment to championing family care in parallel with organizational strategies and vision. |
| Qualifications: | •
Post secondary degree/diploma in a related discipline (eg. Nursing,
sociology, psychology, equity studies, etc.) or an equivalent of
education and experience • Graduate parent of NICU ( must be one year post discharge) • Experience in project management would be considered an asset |
| Salary: | Commensurate with Experience |
| Available to: | Internal & External Candidates |
| Deadline: | 2012-11-15 |
| How to Apply: |
External candidates applying to posted vacancies must submit a resume via e-mail to ex.careers@sickkids.ca quoting file number CPS12396-KS
in the subject line of your e-mail. It is suggested to copy and paste
the file number from this page to ensure it is captured correctly. Only
applications submitted through ex.careers@sickkids.ca will be considered. External candidates must also submit a completed application for employment.
Internal SickKids staff should review the ‘View Job Openings’ site on
KidWeb or contact Human Resources with the file number for assistance.
Please note that resumes must be sent in PDF or Word format only.
General inquiries sent to this e-mail address will not be answered.
SickKids is strongly committed to diversity within its community and welcomes application from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, members of sexual minority groups, persons with disabilities and others who may contribute diversity within our organization. SickKids is also committed to providing accommodations to persons with disabilities in our recruitment process. Accommodations are available upon request to all applicants, including applicants who are selected to participate in an interview, assessment or selection process. If you require any accommodations to fully and fairly participate in the recruitment process, we will endeavor to provide a suitable accommodation in a manner that takes into account the applicant's accessibility needs. We thank you in advance for your interest. Only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. In accordance with our Hospital policy, employment at SickKids would be conditional upon you providing the Hospital with satisfactory documentation of tuberculosis testing and your immunization status. |
Showing posts with label Janis Purdy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Janis Purdy. Show all posts
NICU parent liason position
A Parent Liaison role has just been advertised for SickKids NICU ! (PDF) This is a first paid parent role in the NICU to the best of my knowledge and an amazing opportunity to make an incredible difference in the lives of families and children when they are most vulnerable. Please circulate widely.
Big thanks to former NICU mom Janis Purdy and SickKids staff for making this happen, especially Nurse Practitioner Kim Dionne and Manager of Clinical Programs Audra Jesso.
NICU retreat brings together parents from Sunnybrook, Mount Sinai and SickKids
Tri-Hospital Parent Advisories
“Best Practices for Our NICUs”
Saturday, November 5th 2011
Sunnybrook Hospital, 2075 Bayview Avenue
8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast
9:00 - 9:30 Welcome and introductions
9:30 - 10:00 "Beyond "Giving Back": Lessons Learned by Veteran Parent Volunteers" - Frank Gavin founded the Canadian Family Advisory Network (CFAN) and currently serves as CFAN's National Liaison.
10:00 - 10:30 “Peer Support: the important role”, Mt Sinai
10:30 - 11:00 coffee break
11:00 - 11:30 “Getting to Yes: family and staff partnerships at Sick Kids NICU”, SickKids
11:30 - 12:00 “The effectiveness of a Paid Parent”; Sunnybrook
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch with speakers Dr. Diambomba, Mount Sinai & Dr Ng, Sunnybrook
12:30 - 1:00 Group discussion/wrap up
For more information or if you are interested in attending (spots are limited) please contact Kate.Robson AT sunnybrook.ca
Janis Purdy and I will share activities at SickKids' NICU family council and we look forward to a good learning and networking opportunity for parents and staff focused on patient and family engaged care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
NICU parent - staff brainstorm
Fifteen SickKids NICU staff met with three parents to share ideas on family centred care. Two other parents who could not make the meeting participated via written submissions. The two hour scheduled exchange went to almost three and a half hours as we recognized communication that works and delved into specific and general challenges relating to space, continuity, developmental support, role clarity, helpful technology, scripted communications, a reengaged family advisory and more. Our next steps are to draw up a list of recommendations and together discuss how to best take this forward, considering the considerable prior work by an earlier NICU family advisory council. Participants at this NICU family centred care brainstorm were, going around the table: Dr Jonathan Hellmann (NICU Clinical Director), Judy Hawes (NICU Nurse), Jonathan Blumberg (parent, Sasha Bella Fund), Lisa Bonney-Leung (parent), Kim O'Leary (Child Life), Jennifer Butterly (Marnie's Lounge), Lori Ives-Bain (NICU Palliative Care), Chris Churchhill (NICU Operations Director), Melody Hicks (NICU Clinical Manager), Pam Hubley (Chief, Nursing), Janis Purdy (parent), Dianne Flacks (parent), Jonathan Purdy-Flacks (Janis and Diane's baby), Kim Dionne (NICU Nurse Practitioner), Sharyn Gibbons (NICU Nurse Practitioner), Chris Elliot (NICU Quality Leader), Suzanne Breton (Occupational Therapy), Laura DeOliveira (Social Work, NICU), Dianne (Social Work, NICU) Sandy Steinwender (Occupational Therapy). Frank Gavin (SickKids Family Advisory Committee) joined us for the introductions and offered to share resources on NICU family advisories but was unable to stay due to another presentation committment. Gord and Stacey Archer provided written submissions that were presented by Janis.
Laughing out loud in SickKids Hospital
An article by Diane Flacks in today's Toronto Star, Giving up not an option, so laugh, sharing her and Janis's journey with Jonathan at SickKids, reminds us that coping with children's extreme medical challenges requires not only back bone but a well developed funny bone.
"To keep going, I was held aloft by three pillars: the love and support of family and community, an inappropriate sense of humour, and those fabulous bitter blue sleeping pills. Sure, there were times when I was filled with the raging desire to throw Jonathan's IV pole through his window...The roller coaster of euphoria and despair at Sick Kids, the fragility of the art of medicine and the absolutely random suffering of children can make you lose your noodle. The thing that often saved me was laughter. Not "polly-polly bright side" – that annoying state of optimistic denial, ignoring that our child was in pain and in critical condition – but discovering the absurd in the midst of the crisis."
Laughter as tonic for fear. Laughter as love. Laughter as a cry for help. Laughter as professional respect and inclusion. Laughter as necessary distraction. Laughter as a beautifully human way to keep death at bay. The corridors, private rooms, washrooms, meeting rooms, education rooms are filled with laughter of all kinds. Diane's piece reconnected me to those extreme emotions we felt while in care: utter disbelief, gnawing fear, blooming hope, raging anger, deep grief, transcendant appreciation. That awful anxiety of having a sick kid comes with potential for a deep reconnection to life and death and the ability to laugh and cry within moments moves even jaded, bunkered, blackberried out male souls into the warmth of that absurd realm Diane transports us to.
Jokes that later made me cringe helped lift a heavy weight. We bonded with Sasha's cardiologist because we respected her knowledge and effort and communication style (focused listening, priority summarising - great for brains in info overload). She also smiled when we made inane comments that could seem certifiable to some, certainly a sign of complete lack of fitness to parent, let alone parent a sick kid. Awkward, irritated, truthful, suggestive jokes were just part of the banter.
No surprise they are mostly stricken from memory, just leaving damp warm imprints. The safe jokes about the environment, leading jokes about when something or someone would appear, revealing jokes about matters we have mutually agreed to leave unsaid, for now. Humour was coping and strategy and a common form of subtle or not so subtle communication with core teams. Humour was the last refuge for a gripe when we had differences of opinion. TPA man. Between a rock and a hard place. I am going to lose my mind. You can do that but I might have to jump over this bed and throttle you.
When Sasha was doing well, at clinic discussions, we often explored what Sasha could do. What are the limits to experience when you have a cardiac shunt? We often dreamed of taking her to a gorgeous beach. Our cardiologist was expansive in supporting Sasha's home life however she pointed out there was a lot of risk to air travel. As we saw it, "So we can take her on an aeroplane to a beautiful beach but that might kill her." Smile. Ok, no flight this year. Sasha never flew on an aeroplane, that we know of.
Parents joke about everything however jokes by doctors and nurses are a different matter. Often treasured. Sometimes disliked intensely. Humour is endemic at the hospital and I imagine in most functional hospitals as the presence of death can create a different oxygen. Humour reveals deep understandings between families and care givers, it grows over time, or in rare cases you click and it happens faster, as care giver and family learn each other's styles.
Yet there is always a danger of inappropriate frivolity and the cage closes: you need to know us and we need to like you. We had one doctor joke with us about risks Sasha faced during a proceedure - it wasnt the first wierd incident, nor were we the only one's ticked off, so it was the final delivery and we requested him off our care team. Goodbye, funny guy. That kind of humor made us inhumanly serious.
"To keep going, I was held aloft by three pillars: the love and support of family and community, an inappropriate sense of humour, and those fabulous bitter blue sleeping pills. Sure, there were times when I was filled with the raging desire to throw Jonathan's IV pole through his window...The roller coaster of euphoria and despair at Sick Kids, the fragility of the art of medicine and the absolutely random suffering of children can make you lose your noodle. The thing that often saved me was laughter. Not "polly-polly bright side" – that annoying state of optimistic denial, ignoring that our child was in pain and in critical condition – but discovering the absurd in the midst of the crisis."
Laughter as tonic for fear. Laughter as love. Laughter as a cry for help. Laughter as professional respect and inclusion. Laughter as necessary distraction. Laughter as a beautifully human way to keep death at bay. The corridors, private rooms, washrooms, meeting rooms, education rooms are filled with laughter of all kinds. Diane's piece reconnected me to those extreme emotions we felt while in care: utter disbelief, gnawing fear, blooming hope, raging anger, deep grief, transcendant appreciation. That awful anxiety of having a sick kid comes with potential for a deep reconnection to life and death and the ability to laugh and cry within moments moves even jaded, bunkered, blackberried out male souls into the warmth of that absurd realm Diane transports us to.
Jokes that later made me cringe helped lift a heavy weight. We bonded with Sasha's cardiologist because we respected her knowledge and effort and communication style (focused listening, priority summarising - great for brains in info overload). She also smiled when we made inane comments that could seem certifiable to some, certainly a sign of complete lack of fitness to parent, let alone parent a sick kid. Awkward, irritated, truthful, suggestive jokes were just part of the banter.
No surprise they are mostly stricken from memory, just leaving damp warm imprints. The safe jokes about the environment, leading jokes about when something or someone would appear, revealing jokes about matters we have mutually agreed to leave unsaid, for now. Humour was coping and strategy and a common form of subtle or not so subtle communication with core teams. Humour was the last refuge for a gripe when we had differences of opinion. TPA man. Between a rock and a hard place. I am going to lose my mind. You can do that but I might have to jump over this bed and throttle you.
When Sasha was doing well, at clinic discussions, we often explored what Sasha could do. What are the limits to experience when you have a cardiac shunt? We often dreamed of taking her to a gorgeous beach. Our cardiologist was expansive in supporting Sasha's home life however she pointed out there was a lot of risk to air travel. As we saw it, "So we can take her on an aeroplane to a beautiful beach but that might kill her." Smile. Ok, no flight this year. Sasha never flew on an aeroplane, that we know of.
Parents joke about everything however jokes by doctors and nurses are a different matter. Often treasured. Sometimes disliked intensely. Humour is endemic at the hospital and I imagine in most functional hospitals as the presence of death can create a different oxygen. Humour reveals deep understandings between families and care givers, it grows over time, or in rare cases you click and it happens faster, as care giver and family learn each other's styles.
Yet there is always a danger of inappropriate frivolity and the cage closes: you need to know us and we need to like you. We had one doctor joke with us about risks Sasha faced during a proceedure - it wasnt the first wierd incident, nor were we the only one's ticked off, so it was the final delivery and we requested him off our care team. Goodbye, funny guy. That kind of humor made us inhumanly serious.
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