Jess translates studies into words that families understand

By Louise Kinross Jess Silver is passionate about health and how we translate research into words the average person can understand. She works as a research assistant in Holland Bloorview’s Prism lab, where one of her roles is to write and edit materials targeted to youth and families. We spoke about how her own experiences growing up with a disability inform her work. BLOOM: How did you get into this field? Jess Silver: My passion with medicine...

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A front pack takes Louise where she wants to go

By Louise Kinross Louise Sertsis never saw herself as an entrepreneur. But that was before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and began using a wheelchair. It bothered her that to carry a purse or bag she had to hang it on the back of her wheelchair, out of sight, and ask her husband—or a friend or stranger—to pass it to her. “I felt very dependent on others,” says the Whitby, Ont. resident. “It gave me the idea of redesigning a knapsack...

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Omar says brain injury has turned his shy personality bubbly

By Louise KinrossRehan Siddiqui tells the chilling story of how his son and daughter were hit by a car that went through a red light. “She hit both kids going 60 km an hour,” he says. “How could the driver not realize the light was red? There was nothing wrong with the signal.”Rehan, who sleeps inches away from his son Omar’s hospital bed at Holland Bloorview, says that Omar suffered a severe brain injury and was on life support for 19 days. He...

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Hope: 'We cannot take it away from parents'

By Louise KinrossImagine coming to the scene of a car accident and being told it’s your child that’s been hit. But your child is not there. She's been taken to the trauma centre, a 30-minute drive away.Or entering a room and finding your teen unconscious from a self-inflicted injury. Or hearing a code blue called after taking your child to Emergency with what you thought was the flu. He's suddenly developed a life-threatening illness.For almost...

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Pushing a tube down your nose hurts. Lorry knows firsthand

By Louise KinrossLorry Chen has a passion for promoting access to healthy food. “I wanted to solve world hunger,” she recalls of her time in dietetic school at Western University. For 28 years, she’s been a clinical dietitian at Holland Bloorview, initially working at our Bloorview site. She now works with our brain injury and orthopedic and developmental units, as well as in an outpatient nutrition clinic. We spoke about how she chose her career,...

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Refugee claimant hits roadblocks getting disabled child's care

By Louise Kinross I'm delighted to introduce the latest in our A Family Like Mine video series. Meet Ola Atanda and her three kids: Bolu, 15, Abby, 7, and Rahmat Beverly, 19 months, who has cerebral palsy. The family, originally from Nigeria, has been living in a Toronto shelter for almost two years as Ola seeks refugee status. Ola is attending high school with hopes of going on to university to become a social worker. Ola says her greatest challenge is getting Rahmat’s health needs met. “I’m having great issues with my Ontario Works case...

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