National Child Day: Reflecting on our commitment to children’s rights to health care
Today is National Child Day. A day to acknowledge the importance of children’s rights and our country’s commitment to upholding them.
This day stems from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. An international agreement on childhood established in 1989, it states that every child has the right to health care.
Yet we know that families across Vancouver Island face barriers to accessing health care for their kids. Especially when a child has complex health needs.
For many families we support, there are significant expenses associated with their child’s care. Specialized equipment, frequent travel for medical appointments, long stays away from home to be closer to a child in hospital. These are just a few examples of how a family’s income can quickly stretch thin.
And it has an impact far beyond finances. Sorting out travel for health care places major stress on a family. It can mean missing work or school, arranging childcare for siblings, less participation in community life and hobbies. All of this on top of the mental and emotional stress of navigating complex health care for a child.
We are seeing the need for support play out in real time
One of the indicators we look at often is the number of applications to Bear Essentials. This referral-based program helps families cover the costs associated with their child’s specialized health care needs.
Recently, we’ve seen a significant spike in funding requests to the Bear Essentials program to help cover travel costs for families. From July through September, our team received 319 applications for health-related travel support. That’s a staggering 40 per cent increase from the same time in 2023.
Thanks to the support of our community of donors, thus far we have been able to keep up – funding 276 trips in those three months alone. That’s compared to the 199 trips we funded from July-September 2023.
But it’s getting more challenging to fill the gap.
Our partners across the health care sector are relying on us
In our work, we connect with many people who support kids along their health care journeys. We speak with clinicians, health care professionals who refer families to our programs, and community organizations supporting children and youth.
They are acutely aware of the gaps that exist within the health care system. One of those gaps is support for prenatal families, especially in remote communities.
For example, on Salt Spring Island, many prenatal families must give birth off-island, far from home and their support networks, due to limited hospital resources. As a result, pregnancy relocations are the most common travel requests we receive for Southern Gulf Islands families.
We are committed to working with partners, the health care sector, and governments to make it easier for Island families to access the complex health care and supports they need for their kids. Together, we need to speak up for kids and push for long-term solutions.
Because Island kids deserve better.
But in the here and now, to meet this urgent, growing demand, we need your support.
This National Child Day, consider giving a gift that can make the health care journey of an Island family less challenging.
And thank you for continuing to put Island kids first.
