251977
in-person visits
7630
surgeries
64892
emergency room visits
544
research papers
A global leader in paediatric health care and research
Dedicated to the best life for every child and youth, CHEO is a global leader in paediatric health care and research. The CHEO Foundation is responsible for developing, accepting, distributing, and recognizing philanthropy in support of CHEO, the CHEO Research Institute and Roger Neilson House. CHEO’s patients range from the tiniest babies to the tallest teens, meaning CHEO’s staff must have equipment available to fit the needs of every patient of all ages and sizes.
Foundation funding supports new equipment and research, improvements to facilities and ensuring patient and family support programs are available to children, youth and families that rely on CHEO.
CHEO's doors are always open
On average there are 6,000 admissions yearly, 10,000 visits to the Medical Day Unit and 180,000 visits to CHEO’s 73 outpatient clinics.
The vision that guides the work the CHEO Foundation does every day is that community and foundation are synonymous. CHEO opened its doors in 1974 and was the result of years of hard work and relentless lobbying by a dedicated group of volunteers and families who did not want their children to have to travel to access world-class paediatric medical care. The funds that the CHEO Foundation collects and distributes every year demonstrate the Ottawa-Gatineau region enduring commitment to their children’s hospital.
Advancing our knowledge of rare diseases
Care4Rare is a pan-Canadian collaborative team of clinicians, bioinformaticians, scientists, and researchers, focused on improving the care of Rare Disease patients in Canada and around the world, led out of the CHEO Research Institute. There are about 7,000 rare genetic diseases in Canada that impact more then one million Canadians and their families. In 2/3rds of these cases, the disease causes significant disability, affect children, and more than half lead to early death. The Care4Rare team is hard at work to help families find a diagnosis and live their best lives.
Global health crisis research thrives here
The COVID-19 pandemic meant that the day-to-day work at the CHEO Research Institute changed. Many researchers and scientists shifted their focus to support world-wide efforts addressing the immediate needs caused by this unprecedented global health crisis. Research into the decontamination of N95 and SN95 masks using Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) became the priority for a dedicated team that brought new eyes to existing data to find answers quickly. Also during the pandemic, Ottawa has become an ad-hoc centre of excellence for tracking the spread of COVID-19 by testing municipal wastewater. Ottawa is the only city in Canada doing daily testing, a collaboration between researchers at CHEO and uOttawa with Ottawa Public Health. For more information on COVID-19 related research visit cheoresearch.ca.
Did you know:
CHEO’s Transport Team travels a territory of over 440,000 square kilometres by ground and air to bring over 500 critically ill, injured and premature infants to CHEO every year. This emergency, life-saving care could not be put on hold regardless of the stresses to our healthcare system due to COVID-19. Every one of the 12 medical professionals in this small but mighty crew makes a profound difference each time they report for duty.
Supporting kids’ mental health
CHEO now offers dedicated psychological services to oncology patients. This program was initiated by families who saw a need for increased mental health support for their children. Clinical psychologists provide assessments, consultations and counselling to children and youth in treatment and to cancer survivors dealing with lingering effects of treatment.
Helping children and youth live their best life
Your support helps provide outstanding care for kids and families.
About the CHEO Foundation
At the CHEO Foundation, our mission is to advance the physical, mental and social well-being of children and families in eastern and northern Ontario, western Quebec and Nunavut by raising, managing and disbursing funds. Together, as one team, the CHEO Foundation, CHEO, the CHEO Research Institute and Roger Neilson House strive to help all children and youth live their best lives.