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SPARK Conversations
What does it take to build better healthcare systems that truly work for every child in Canada? SPARK Conversations is Children's Healthcare Canada's podcast series bringing together the clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and families who are shaping the future of children's healthcare to explore what's working, what's possible, and what comes next. This is where the conversation starts.
Episodes
57 episodes
The Next Frontier: Prevention, Community, and the Future of Child and Youth Mental Health Care
Dr. Leslie Roos (CHF Manitoba) and Adam Starkman (Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations) look ahead to a more connected, prevention-focused mental health system. They discuss closing regional gaps, strengthening collaboration between hospita...
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The Lived Experience: Navigating the System
National Patient Youth Ambassador Jenna Kedy shares her personal mental health journey, offering a lived-experience perspective on the emotional and practical barriers young people face navigating care. She reflects on what earlier support coul...
Before Crisis: What Early Intervention Really Means
Renée Hopfner (Empire Company Limited) and Adam Starkman (Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations) unpack what early intervention actually means, why it's becoming an urgent priority across Canada, and what happens when children and families d...
The Long View: Building Lifetime Pathways for Kids of All Abilities
*Please note that this episode contains glitches that we've (unsuccessfully) attempted to fix.Families navigate fragmented healthcare and education systems while managing invisible labour that systems and professionals often don...
Building Bridges: Navigating the transition from child to adult care
Children with congenital heart disease face developmental challenges similar to those born prematurely, yet follow-up care in Canada depends on where a child is born and lacks the systematic approach that exists for other at-risk populations. I...
Seen from the Start: The case for early identification and care
Early identification and intervention can transform outcomes for children with disabilities and their families, yet Canada's fragmented health and education systems create barriers that leave parents navigating alone. In this episode, gue...
SPARK Conversations: A New Chapter Begins
Children's Healthcare Canada is proud to bring you SPARK Conversations in a new mini-series format — going deeper on the issues that matter most to children, youth, and their families. Each mini-series is designed to inform and advance healthca...
Right-Sizing Reflections: The evidence, the urgency and the opportunity
In this special capstone episode of SPARK: Conversations, host Dr. Katharine Smart speaks with Emily Gruenwoldt, President and CEO of Children’s Healthcare Canada, to reflect on two years of exploring what it means to right-size childr...
Right-sizing Children’s Healthcare: Connecting care & building capacity beyond the hospital walls
Children’s healthcare extends far beyond hospital walls. In this episode, host Dr. Katharine Smart speaks with Dr. Vera Etches, President and CEO of CHEO, about how pediatric systems can evolve to better meet children and families...
'Tis the season - Flu, RSV, and COVID: A heads-up from down under
Across Australia, pediatric centres have just come through a challenging respiratory virus season - driven by influenza, RSV, and COVID - with unusually high volumes among infants and young children, shifting viral patterns, and sustained press...
Right-Sizing Children’s Healthcare: The Critical Role of Community-Based Developmental Care
Developmental healthcare in the community is not just a “nice-to-have” - it is an essential component of children’s healthcare systems. Join podcast host, Dr. Katharine Smart, Jennifer Churchill, President & CEO of Empowered Kids Ontario, a...
The Power of Pediatric Palliative Care: Equity, Access, and Hope
Pediatric palliative care is so much more than end-of-life support — it’s about walking alongside children and their families from diagnosis through symptom management, grief, and beyond. In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, ...
A Right-Sized Model that Works: Learning from Ontario’s pediatric cancer care system
What does it take to build a truly integrated, child- and family-centered healthcare system? In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, host Dr. Katharine Smart speaks with Lauren Ettin, CEO of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO). Toge...
Equity-Driven Systems: Right-Sizing Healthcare for Every Child
In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, host Dr. Katharine Smart is joined by Rochelle Reid, Senior Lead and Strategic Advisor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre. Rochelle shares insights from the developme...
Family partnership and lived experience: A core component for right-sizing child health systems
In this episode of SPARK Conversations, host, Dr. Katharine Smart, and guest Fabiana Bacchini explore the impact of Family Partnership on children’s healthcare across the country. Fabiana shares her perspective on family engagement in right-siz...
Federal Election 45 Results: Impact on children, their health, and healthcare
In this episode of SPARK Conversations, host, Dr. Katharine Smart, and her guests explore the impact of the recent Canadian federal election results on children’s health and healthcare across the country. Podcast guests, Danielle Flieler, Manag...
Big Hearts, Huge Impact: Philanthropy and the Future of Kids’ Healthcare
What does it really take to right-size Canada’s children’s healthcare systems? In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, we explore the powerful role of philanthropy in shaping accessible, equitable, and innovative care for kids. Featuring inspi...
The Role of Community Hospitals in Right-Sizing Children’s Healthcare
In this episode of SPARK Conversations, we explore right-sizing children’s healthcare systems from the perspective of Community Hospitals that serve children, youth, and their families. Our guest for this episode, ‘Remi Ejiwunmi, Vice President...
How Ronald McDonald House Charities is Helping to Right Size Healthcare for Kids
In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, we explore the role of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Kate Horton, Chief Executive Officer at Ronald McDonald House Charities and Karima Karmali, President and Chair of the Board of Directors at Ronald...
Homecare: A key element of right-sized health systems
In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, we explore the role of home healthcare. Maureen Charlebois, Chief of Nursing & Clinical Officer at Bayshore HealthCare, discussing the importance of home healthcare within the Canadian healthcare sys...
Right-sizing healthcare systems for kids: Primary care access
In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, we explore the role of primary care teams or healthcare professionals in right-sizing children’s healthcare systems. Dr. Tara Kiran discusses the revolutionary OurCare study, its findings, and implicatio...
Collective action and Advocacy: Coalitions and right-sizing children's healthcare
In this episode of SPARK: Conversations, we explore the collaborative efforts shaping the future of child and youth mental health care in Ontario. The Children’s Health Coalition, a powerful partnership between Children’s Mental Health...
Care Without Borders: Strategies for Delivering Quality Healthcare to Kids in Rural and Remote Communities
Children's Healthcare Canada, its members, and strategic partners have highlighted the need to and catalyzed collective action to right-size health systems for children. Recommendations in the Beyond Bandaids report include a call for the expan...
The Pediatric Workforce: Right-sizing the HHR system for kids
Changing healthcare needs and increasing care complexity among children and youth together with HHR challenges have raised concerns about the current and future availability of pediatric subspecialty care and research and the potential ramifica...