Caring for kids
CEO of Montreal Shriners Hospital for Children is in N.L. to meet with other pediatric specialists
The CEO of the Montreal Shriners Hospital for Children, Jacques Boissonneault, is in St. John’s this week.
Along with Paul Rose, the potentate for Mazol Shriners of Newfoundland and Labrador, Boissonneault hopes to spread awareness of the organization and build relationships with other pediatric hospitals across Newfoundland and Canada.
“I’m very pleased to meet the executive of the (Janeway) hospital,” Boissonneault said. “We are not competitors, we are working together. I aim to establish a working relationship with all pediatric hospitals all over Canada because we sincerely believe we can help each other.”
Dedicated to helping children around the world, Shriners has 22 hospitals across North America. Its staff specialize in children’s orthopedic conditions, and their research has led to the world standard of care for osteogenesis imperfecta, more commonly known as brittle bone disease.
“Shriners is all about sharing,” Boissonneault said. “We are a Canadian hospital. We need to reach out to the other provinces. With technology today, we’re not far from each other.”
Over the 10 clubs across the island, there are about 450 members of Shriners N.L.
“(We are) dedicated to fundraising and having fun helping kids,” Rose said. “That’s what we do.”
While some patients and their families can be funded and sent to the Montreal hospital, Shriners also sets up outreach clinics, where the doctor flies in to see the patient.
“Overall through the year we do about 1,100 surgeries,” Boissonneault said. “We have an external clinic (where) we do about 25,000 visits a year.
“Our objective is to treat as many kids as we can and to work together with other pediatric hospitals.”