Care for Every Kid: Montreal's Pediatric Care Initiative

0:00Dr. Matthew Donlin, a pediatrician at Montreal Children's Hospital, kicked off the care for every kid initiative back in 2022. Hook up Quebec kids with local doctors. The idea hit him after seeing patients bounce back to the emergency room with stuff like asthma diagnoses but no follow-up plan. He's reached out to every pediatric office in the province, matching over 3,500 children to family docs or specialists, close to home. The gap came from an old consult center shutting down when the hospital moved sites, pushing simpler cases into communities that weren't ready. Kids ended up returning for basic needs, clogging up spots meant for complex care. Donlin's team now handles referrals smoothly, even expanding to primary care for newborns. Docs like neurologist Bradley Osterman are loving it. He can zero in on tough neurological cases instead of handling reflux or sleep issues. At places like St. Mary's Hospital, they've connected every baby born since May of this

1:00year to a family doctor, especially helping vulnerable. Families like immigrants and single parents who struggle calling clinics themselves. The program's rolling out to more Montreal hospitals, with an app on the way to speed up matches. Donlin's pushing Sante Quebec hard for province-wide buy-in, calling it a cheap, fixable bureaucracy snag that could blanket every kid in Quebec with. Proper care. He's dead set on scaling it fast, optimistic that one good sit-down could solve it in a month, making sure no child falls through the cracks in this. Health system shuffle. From your city, powered by AI, this is Canada News Today.