Sick kids don’t only live in Canada. So SickKids can’t either. If you’ve already heard about the CIDA-funded Global Child Health Program, you know that The Hospital for Sick Children is blazing trails all over the world. But we’re not just leaving behind breadcrumbs of health knowledge, skills and education, we’re leaving the whole loaf and the recipe for the next batch.

On May 30, the Ghana-SickKids Paediatric Nursing Training Program got underway in Ghana. Over the next three years, up to 140 nurses in the west African country will be trained as experts in the care of children and then return to their home-communities to train their peers. The program will help address Ghana’s critical need for 1,500 paediatric nurses by 2015 and support the Ghanaian-led vision of making a sustainable impact on child health systems and leadership in the country.

Dylan Walters, Project Manager for the program, was on the scene for the launch:

“Forty aspiring paediatric nurses, coming from as far away as the northern region of Ghana, eagerly arrived at the School of Nursing, University of Ghana for the inaugural ceremony. Our partners mobilized the students, the press, committee members and distinguished guests to celebrate the realization of this decade-long Ghanaian vision.

“Following the ceremony and photographs, SickKids nurses Pat Malloy and Karen Breen-Reid led the first class. It was clear from the beginning that the first group is keen to learn, motivated to improve children’s health and proud to be future paediatric nurses.”

But SickKids won’t be doing all the teaching. There is much to be learned from our Ghanaian colleagues and from working with countries that have developing health systems. “If each day resembles this one,” said Pat Malloy of her first day in the classroom, “this experience will change not only the nurses in Ghana, but me as well.”

We are confident the Ghana-SickKids Paediatric Nursing Training Program will change SickKids too.

It was another successful Herbie Day at SickKids today. The festivities closed with Gord Martineau’s live broadcast during the Citytv six o’clock news hour where he highlighted the impact made to international patients and announced more than $134,000 raised in support of the Herbie Fund.

Run by volunteers, the Herbie Fund relies on the generosity of the community to continue to change the lives of children around the world. Without this support, these children would be without the medical care they so desperately need.

Beginning with a live broadcast during Breakfast Television, Herbie Day continued with a special BBQ lunch on the front lawn, courtesy of Oliver & Bonacini. The Kids Fun Zone inside the Hospital was a hit during the rainy weather with Toronto Blue Jays mascot Ace and the Toronto Zoo’s Explorer Bear hanging out with the children while they got their pictures taken and spent the afternoon playing games.

Gord Martineau has been particularly instrumental in the success of the annual event, which to date has raised almost $1 million. Travelling across the globe to meet the children who benefit from the Herbie Fund, Gord’s passion and enthusiasm are contagious to all those who participate in making these children’s hopes into a reality.

You can catch special coverage of the day as well as patient stories and interviews on the Citytv website. To make a donation to the Herbie Fund, visit their website or call 1-888-340-3429.

His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and his wife, Her Excellency Sharon Johnston, paid a special visit to SickKids last night to celebrate the dedication and generosity of our donors at our annual celebration event, Donor Hall.

The Governor General was at SickKids to recognize excellence in philanthropy and volunteerism, pillars of his mandate as Governor General. His visit began with a hard hat tour of the SickKids Research & Learning Tower, currently under construction. He then proceeded to the Reading Room at SickKids for story time with patients. Though his accomplishments include being a former hockey star at Harvard University and President of the University of Waterloo for 11 years, the Governor General referred to himself simply as “Grandpa Book” – a nickname his eight grandchildren coined for him in reference to his love of reading.

In front of a crowd of about 300 donors, His Excellence went on to recognize their commitment to the Tower and thanked them for their contributions to the future of children’s health care. “This new addition will increase the Hospital’s ability to heal, conduct the necessary preventative research that is so vital to the health of our children, and teach a new generation of medical professionals. When you look around at this facility, at these children, you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that your generosity has made this possible, that you have made a difference.”

Read his entire speech here.