Paediatrics
Programs & Services

Paediatrics

Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital has an active, family-centered paediatric unit. We offer specialized care at an intermediate level between primary community hospitals and tertiary level centers for the North Simcoe Muskoka region.

Overview

Five community hospitals refer paediatric patients to OSMH. Outpatient programs for children include:

  • Paediatric Outpatient Clinic
  • Paediatric Oncology Clinic
  • Paediatric Diabetic Education Centre
  • Neonatal Follow Up Clinic
  • Complex Care Clinic
  • Choosing Healthy Actions Together (Paediatric Obesity Clinic)
  • Paediatric Eating Disorder Clinic
  • Paediatric Asthma Clinic
    We have seven paediatricians on staff who act as consultants to our family physicians and provide 24-7 on-call coverage to the NICU, Pediatric inpatient ward, Obstetrical ward and Emergency Department. Also, a social worker supports all of our programs, with special interest in paediatric mental health, diabetes, premature support bereavement, and support of young mothers.

 


Contact Us

Paediatric Department
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201


Oncology Clinic

In partnership with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto and the Paediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO), the POGO Paediatric Oncology Satellite Clinic offers day clinic services such as chemotherapy, blood level monitoring and transfusions.

The POGO Satellite Clinic at OSMH is one of eight in Ontario that brings the components of the care of children with cancer closer to the family home. POGO’s provincial satellite program is funded by the Ministry of Health, and at OSMH involves paediatricians, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technologists. The other POGO Satellite Clinics are in Sudbury, Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo, Mississauga, Scarborough, Newmarket and Peterborough.

Links and Resources:


Contact Us

Paediatric Oncology Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201 ext. 3635


Paediatric Diabetes Education Centre

Our Diabetes Education Centre (DEC) provides individual consultation, education and follow-up for children and their families. The goal is to empower children and their families to manage a chronic illness so that the child is free of symptoms and complications in order to live a healthy, happy life.

DEC’s services include:

  • individual assessments with a diabetes nurse educator and dietitian
  • clinics with a multi-disciplinary team, including a paediatrician, nurse, social worker and dietitian
  • education sessions to ensure proper nutrition, exercise, insulin, blood glucose monitoring, hypoglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis and ketone testing, and sick-day management

Links/Resources:


Contact Us

Paediatric Diabetes Centre
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201 Ext. 3152


Paediatric Outpatient Clinic

Our eight paediatricians see outpatients in their offices on a referral basis only from their primary care provider (i.e. family doctor or nurse practitioner). Typical issues that we might see in the office include headaches, seizures, abdominal pain or constipation, among many others. We do not provide primary care (e.g. well baby visits or immunizations).

If your child is coming for a behavioural, educational or developmental consultation please bring along report cards, comments from teachers/ daycare providers, psychological reports or any other paperwork that you think might be helpful.  We may take a copy of these for our records. Some families find it helpful to write down their questions or concerns prior to their appointment to make sure they don’t forget.

First visits may range from 30 minutes to 90 minutes depending on the issue. Follow ups are typically 15-30 minutes. Please bring your child’s valid Ontario health card to the appointment. If possible, please try to arrange child care for your other children so we can focus our attention on the child that is coming to see the pediatrician. If you are unable to do so, please bring something that will keep the child entertained during the appointment. You may also see a medical learner (medical student or resident) at your appointment, in addition to the paediatrician. If you can’t make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible and we will try to reschedule.

For Referring Physicians

We accept referrals by fax. You will receive a fax back within 2 weeks notifying you that we have received the referral, and/or asking for any additional information that we require. Typical wait times for medical concerns are about 2-4 months, and for school/mental health/behaviour concerns about 18 months. Pre-school development/autism wait times are 3-6 months.  We attempt to contact the family with their appointment time, but you will also receive a fax notice once an appointment has been scheduled. If you think the patient needs to be seen more urgently, please contact the paediatrician on call via the OSMH switchboard to discuss. We are also happy to answer questions via OTN through eConsult.

Links/Resources

General Information About Kids Health 

Caring For Kids

Ontario 211 (find programs and services in your community)

Autism

Autism Ontario

Ontario Autism Program

Kerry’s Place

 

Mental Health

New Path (free child and youth mental health services in Simcoe County)

HANDS (free child and youth mental health services in Muskoka)

Anxiety Canada (online resource providing self-help information, community programs and resources)

Bounce Back (free skill building program for youth 15+ to manage mild to moderate depression and anxiety)

Togetherall (peer support online community for youth 16+ with trained moderators)

 

Forms/Questionnaires

Child Mental Health (if you’ve been asked to fill out a form prior to an appointment)

 

Contact Us

Paediatric Outpatient Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

Fax 705-327-5499

Dr. Barker and Dr. Newman 705-327-9188

Dr. Colpitts and Dr. Gordon 705-327-9143

Dr. Dickinson and Dr. Smith 705-327-9131

Dr. Salmers and Dr. Wolfe-Wylie 705-330-3202

Neonatal Follow Up Clinic

Our neonatal follow up clinic provides ongoing follow up to high-risk infants after discharge from the NICU on referral by their paediatrician. Our multidisciplinary team includes a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist and a paediatrician to provide early diagnosis and intervention when needed. Visits are typically scheduled for 4 months, 8 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24-36 months. These visits do not replace well baby visits with your primary care provider for immunizations, etc. but are in addition to those visits in order to monitor development.

Our team is closely linked to community resources so that children can be easily referred for the interventions they need.

Links/Resources:

Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health NNFU Resources for Families

Children’s Treatment Network

Empower Simcoe

One Kids Place – Children’s Treatment Centre

Contact Us

Neonatal Follow Up Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201 ext. 6753

Complex Care Clinic

The complex care clinic provides care to children with medical complexity in order to enhance care delivery and coordination for children and families on referral from their paediatrician. It is a partnership with Sick Kids hospital in order to provide complex care closer to home. Visits include the local paediatrician, a nurse practitioner from Sick Kids and a Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) care coordinator.

Contact Us

Complex Care Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201 ext. 6753

Choosing Healthy Actions Together (CHAT)

The CHAT program focuses on healthy choices for children and families with obesity, with a goal to improve health and quality of life. This intensive program involves medical assessments to monitor for complications of obesity as well as access to our multidisciplinary team, including a registered dietician, exercise therapist and social worker.

Links/Resources

Sick Kids STOMP resources – http://www.sickkids.ca/STOMP/Resources/Resources_Additional_Links.html

Contact Us

CHAT Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3

705-325-2201 ext. 3152

Paediatric Asthma Clinic

All patients are seen on the referral of a physician. We also act as a resource for other allied healthcare workers regarding asthma management.

Together with your doctor, our goal is to help you understand and gain control of your/your child’s asthma, so you can enjoy a healthy lifestyle. We provide a multi-faceted assessment of the patient using breathing tests (spirometry) and well as a preliminary respiratory assessment of the patient’s medications, device use and evaluation of possible triggers and suggestions on how to avoid them. On later visits you may meet with a physician.

Our team is comprised of a Paediatrician and Asthma Educator. There are three steps to your visit to the Asthma Centre:

Step 1: Initial Visit

When your doctor refers you to the centre you can expect a basic assessment and individual counseling with education about asthma to meet your personal needs. Our Asthma Educator will create an Action Plan for you based upon your doctor’s orders. We may also do a breathing test (spirometry) if appropriate.

Step 2: Reassessment

You will meet with the educator and your specialist. The success of your treatment will be evaluated and your treatment plan modified to meet your needs.

Step 3: Follow Up Visits

The centre will arrange for follow up visits with the team to help keep you on track, and you and/or your child healthy. These appointments generally occur every 4 to 6 months.

Links/Resources:

 

Asthma Clinic
170 Colborne Street West
Orillia, ON L3V 2Z3
705-325-2201 ext. 3152

Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS): PLUS Course

PALS (Paediatric Advanced Life Support)

PALS is an advanced course that focuses on a systematic approach to basic life support, pediatric assessment,  PALS treatment algorithms, effective resuscitation and team dynamics to improve the quality of care provided to seriously ill or injured children, resulting in improved outcomes.

PALS-PLUS

Our unique course is geared to the needs of providers working in more remote areas without immediate access to pediatric care, and includes additional education on diabetic ketoacidosis status epilepticus, and transport.

The Orillia PALS Team has highly rated instructors with more than 25 years of teaching experience. We offer an engaging interactive case-based program, using real world examples from our experiences caring for children in this region for over 3 decades.

Upcoming Courses

November 9, 2022 – PALS + Plus Pediatric Advanced Life Support  Recertification Course

PALS + Plus Pediatric Recertification Course Registration Form – Nov 9 2022

2022 PALS Registration Participation Information

For further information on upcoming courses:

Vickie Martin and Lisa Ayers
ayermar.ed@gmail.com

Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)

NRP

The Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) is an educational program that introduces the concepts and skills of neonatal resuscitation. In Canada, NRP is administered by the Canadian Paediatric Society and is designed to teach individuals and teams who may be required to resuscitate newborn babies. NRP course content is evidence-based and delivered across Canada in both English and French to over 45,000 health care professionals.

At OSMH NRP is taught by Jared Baxter and many dates are offered throughout the year; please contact jjbaxter@osmh.on.ca or nrpplusosmh@gmail.com

On site courses at other locations can also be arranged.

NRP – Plus

The Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) is an educational program that introduces the concepts and skills of neonatal resuscitation.

What is the plus component of this NRP course? It was developed to focus exclusively on the post-resuscitation/pre-transport stabilization care of sick infants. The curriculum was created specifically with level 1 partners in mind. In this component the focus is on common post resuscitative complications that can and do occur. The goal is to educate and assist healthcare providers taking care of these fragile infants with information and strategies to improve the high level of care required and includes lectures and clinical practical skills.

Course open to Respiratory Therapists, Midwives, Nurses and Physicians caring for neonates and/or birthing families within a hospital setting in North Simcoe Muskoka or Parry Sound. Note: course covered by the Network, exam to be covered by individual attendees.

NRP-Plus is taught by a team of instructors, usually 2 physicians, an NICU nurse and an RT, and is tailored to the unique needs of our surrounding communities.

Upcoming Courses

November 16, 2022 – Neonatal Resuscitation Course – Plus

Neonatal Resuscitation Course – Plus Registration Form – Nov 16, 2022

To enquire or register please complete the registration form or email nrpplusosmh@gmail.com