CFAN News

Welcome to Canadian Family Advisory Network's home on the Internet.  Please click through to the links on the left to find out more about our national organization for paediatric patient and family advisory groups.

This page is all about what's new in our world - events, articles, and conference information.  Please come back and visit often as this page will be updated regularly!

May 22, 2009
ARTICLE - An imaginative partnership: Parents and the doctors who care for their children

We are very proud to announce the recent publication of an article written by Frank Gavin, CFAN past chair, in the May/June 2009 issue of Paediatric and Child Health.

Frank wrote an insightful piece entitled: “An imaginative partnership: Parents and the doctors who care for their children.” It includes content from many CFAN members who responded to an email from Frank asking about what families needed from their pediatricians.

Here’s the link to the » table of contents – scroll down until you see Frank’s name under Commentaries to download the article.

NEW! Preliminary CFAN 2009 Workshop Agenda now posted. » Click here to find out more about:
Sharing family stories: speaking up to make a difference in health care.

May 22, 2009
NEW! CFAN Backgrounder

For a general information sheet about CFAN, who we are and what we do, » click here.

May 18th, 2009
Update: Canadian Child & Youth Health Coalition

The Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition, of which CFAN is a member, recently welcomed two new members: SafeKids Canada and the The Canadian Paediatric Society. These new partners enhance the ability of all the member groups to extend their reach and advocate more effectively. This will certainly apply to the Child and Family in the Healthcare System project that CFAN is leading within the Coalition. Before the summer begins, the project working group will survey hospitals and family groups across the country about parental presence at induction and in recovery and about surgical preparation programs. We look forward to the responses. As well, CFAN member groups will soon be asked to identify particularly innovative models of care as part of the Coalition's "Child Health Human Resources" project. And in October the Coalition's annual symposium will focus on ways to advocate more effectively with governments, a topic that should interest CFAN members given what is often at stake for families and how families participate or are used in many advocacy efforts. More information about the coalition is available at www.ccyhc.org

May 18th, 2009
"Parenting Matters!"

In March, the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) approved a multi-year research project, "Parenting Matters! The biopsychosocial context of parenting children with neurodevelopmental disorders in Canada", that has been supported by and will continue to involve (as members of the research advisory group) three parents with CFAN ties: Joanne Ganton, Frank Gavin, and Sue Robins. In a nutshell, the project will look at what affects the parenting of the broad range of children with neurodevelopmental disorders and and what parenting affects. Drs. Peter Rosenbaum, Lucy Lach, and Dafna Cohen are the principal investigators on a team of nine other doctors from various disciplines. CFAN will help facilitate the participation of many other parents. Stay tuned!

April 29, 2009
Mark your calendars: 2009 Annual Workshop
Sunday October 18, 2009

We welcome you to join other CFAN members at our annual workshop. This is a great opportunity to:

• Meet family representatives and health providers working in patient/family collaboration from across the country.
• Learn from the work others are doing in similar areas. Gain knowledge sharing, best practice examples, advice, and support.
• Learn from parent and staff speakers.
• Create your own database of contacts and colleagues across the nation to support the work you do.

. » Click here for details

April 9, 2009
Creating a Patient and Family Advisory Council
A new educational webinar hosted by the Institute for Family-Centered Care

Join this webinar to discuss how to create and sustain a patient and family advisory council for your hospital or health care organization. Developing partnerships with patients and families as advisors is a good investment for your organization.

Next session: Tuesday, April 28th, 2009, 1:00-2:30pm (EDT)

For more information, please » click here.

March 4, 2009
Peer Support Programs

Interested in Peer Support Programs?  Here are two upcoming sessions – one in California, and another in Calgary that can be accessed via videoconference, featuring Karen Wayman, a noted speaker on Family Centered Care from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and Michele Ashland, a Lead Parent Mentor.

» Advanced Practitioners of Family-Centered Care: Upcoming Forums for Spring 2009
» Self-Efficacy and Packard Children's Hospital's Parent Mentor Experience
» Family to Family Connections: When Parents Need Support

February 25, 2009
New CFAN Logo

We would like to extend a big thank you to Melissa Clulow, our Webmaster extraordinaire, for finalizing our new CFAN logo.  Special thanks to Susan Greig, Family Liaision for Partners in Care at BC Children’s Hospital, and former CFAN co-chair, for her initial initiative and work on the logo.

February 25, 2009
Films - Homecare for Children

CFAN was recently asked to help recruit families who might like to participate in a documentary film, now in production, about homecare in Canada. About a dozen parents from across the country expressed such an interest. The film's director and writer, Sheona McDonald, made a much admired earlier film, Capturing a Short Life. (www.capturingashortlife.com).  More recently, we heard that another film about homecare for children is being made by Laura Sky. We hope both make a difference. Information about their openings and showings will be posted here.

February 25, 2009
Advocacy Project - The Child and Family in the Healthcare System

Just over a year ago CFAN joined The Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition (www.ccyhc.org), and now CFAN is leading a multi-year Coalition advocacy project, The Child and Family in the Healthcare System. A twelve-person working group, chaired by Tamara Krbavac and Frank Gavin and consisting of five parents, three youths, the President of The Canadian Association of Child Life Leaders, the CEO of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres, and two hospital staff members is beginning to gather both data and narratives to identify existing exemplary practices and areas where improvement is very much needed. Annually and at the project's completion the working group and the Coalition will make recommendations to institutions and governments for changes that we think will improve the experience of families and patients. Visit this site again for ways that you can contribute to the project.

» Family Centred Care in Context - 2009 Conference
The Central and Northern Network for Child Health and Southern Alberta Child & Youth Health Network are co-hosting the second bi-annual conference on Family Centred Care May 24 – 26, 2009 at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton.  This conference follows upon the extremely successful 2007 conference in Calgary. » More info