OTTAWA — The Ontario government is helping meet the growing demand for services for children and youth with special needs in the Ottawa area by investing in a new Integrated Treatment Centre at CHEO, a pediatric health and research centre in Ottawa. The new multi-storey building called 1Door4Care will reduce the need for families to travel to multiple facilities to gain access to critical treatment and rehabilitation services such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language pathology, and autism services.
“We are delivering on our promise to support children and youth with special needs by ensuring that we are building the necessary infrastructure to support expanding services,” said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. “CHEO’s 1Door4Care is an excellent example of an innovative, modern service delivery model that will support children and their families and aligns with our vision that puts the well-being of individuals at the centre of our decision-making.”
For children with multiple or complex special needs, 1Door4Care will bring together teams of professionals under one roof to support children with special needs through a coordinated plan of care. CHEO currently provides these services in eight locations across the region, which can make it difficult for families and providers to coordinate services and to support children and youth as they grow into adulthood.
“Our government is getting shovels in the ground on critical infrastructure, including hospitals, highways, housing and high-speed internet,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance. “By investing to expand our hospital infrastructure, we are protecting our progress against the COVID-19 pandemic and building for the future.”
“We are thankful to the provincial government for its steadfast support of 1Door4Care – CHEO’s Integrated Treatment Centre,” said Alex Munter, President and CEO of CHEO. “Children and youth with special needs, medical complexities and mental health challenges have deserved better, faster access to care for a long time. The pandemic has only made things worse for vulnerable children and youth. This new building is going to bring care teams, family supports and technology under one roof so 40,000 kids and their families get the care they need – when, where and how they need it. Eastern Ontario get ready, we can’t wait to deliver!”
This investment in CHEO’s new Integrated Children’s Treatment Centre building is part of the 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario. The government recently announced an additional $240 million in funding over four years to reduce waitlists and build additional service capacity for early intervention and rehabilitation services for children and youth with special needs.