By Justin Faiola From SickKids

On Saturday March 29, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) was honoured at the fifth annual University of West Indies (UWI) Toronto Benefit Gala at The Ritz-Carlton.

SickKids received UWI’s prestigious Chancellor’s Award for its significant contributions to the UWI and the Caribbean through its SickKids Caribbean Initiative (SCI) to enhance capacity for care in paediatric cancer and serious blood disorders.

SCI, which is funded by SickKids Foundation, works with stakeholders across the English-speaking Caribbean to improve the outcomes and quality of life for children with cancer and blood disorders as well as their families. SCI collaborates with governments, hospitals and academic institutions in Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia to identify the needs, priorities and areas of specialization for sustainable capacity building. The project focuses its work in six working groups: Clinical Care, Diagnostics, Oncology Database, Research & Evaluation, Sickle Cell Disease, and Nursing .

“The SickKids-Caribbean Initiative is an important project in pooling resources and working together to improve the quality of care in cancer and blood diseases for children in our region,” said Dr. Corinne SinQuee, Paediatric Haematologist-Oncologist and UWI Lecturer in Child Health from The Bahamas and SCI Co-Lead Physician Representative.

Since its launch in February 2013, SCI has launched telemedicine facilities at the BTC Telemedicine Room in The Bahamas and The Shaw Family Telemedicine Room at the UWI Clinical Skills Building, Cave Hill campus in Barbados. SCI has also successfully held six case consultation rounds, bringing together physicians from the participating sites and SickKids via telemedicine to deliver educational presentations, evaluation and recommendations for additional studies.

In 2014-2015, SCI will implement telemedicine facilities in St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and upgrade Trinidad & Tobago’s Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex telemedicine lab. SCI will also finalize and implement several key components of its strategy for the six working groups, including a new nursing leadership strategy based on unique site requirements. SCI leaders believe development in the six working groups is critical in enhancing the treatment and care of children living in the Caribbean.

The UWI Toronto Benefit Gala honours outstanding leaders of Canadian and Caribbean heritage and raises funds for the university’s scholarship fund. To date, almost 150 scholarships have been awarded to students in financial need.

For more information on SickKids Caribbean Initiative or the UWI Toronto Benefit Gala, please see https://www.sickkids.ca/globalchildhealth/Education-and-Capacity-Building/Caribbean-SickKids/Caribbean-SickKids.html

and http://www.uwitorontogala.com/2014/

To see videos about SCI go to:

Video 1 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvntNAnvuSY

Video 2 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qWUhYejuyc&list=UURXuIrY0w8NPvBptXtfDKvA