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Our Unique Role

We provide better health for the children and youth of British Columbia. 
What we do

BC Children's Hospital (BC Children's) provides expert health care, including mental health care, for the most seriously ill or injured children from across British Columbia. Child development and rehabilitation is provided by Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, a program of BC Children's.

In addition to providing specialized pediatric services — many of which are not available elsewhere in the province – BC Children's is the province's leading teaching and research facility for child health.

Mandate

BC Children's Hospital, including Sunny Hill Health Centre, delivers child and youth health and rehabilitation services and is the province's major treatment, teaching and research facility for child health, with 93,000 children cared for on an annual basis.

As a hospital of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), BC Children’s strategic action plan supports PHSA’s strategic direction, outlined in the PHSA Service Plan. BC Children's also shares the vision, mission and values of the PHSA.

The BC Children's Hospital and the Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children is affiliated with the University of British Columbia. For more information, please see the Department of Pediatrics.

Programs

Based in Vancouver, BC's Children's Hospital reaches across the province with specialized care for children and their families. 

These services include:

  • Inpatient, outpatient and tertiary care for children from infancy to adolescence, including ambulatory clinics, adolescent health, consultation services, emergency services, general pediatric health and molecular disease
  • Specialized pediatric surgery in areas such as orthopedics, urology, ear/nose/throat, ophthalmology and plastic surgery
  • Open-heart and other cardiac surgery and specialized programs for children with congenital or acquired heart disease
  • Intensive care (including trauma care) for critically ill and injured children; help for community health agencies with long-distance transfers to the hospital
  • Kidney transplants by Western Canada's most comprehensive renal team, and related services such as hemodialysis
  • Psychiatric services for children and adolescents, including emergency care and treatment for eating disorders, mood disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
  • Neurology and neurosurgery service for children and youth with serious disorders of the brain and nervous system
  • Treatment of children with cancer and blood disorders, including bone marrow transplants and supportive and palliative care
  • An innovative integrated pain service for children and youth that provides much-needed help for children and youth with complex acute or chronic pain
  • A medical genetics program addressing genetic diseases and family counseling
  • Interdisciplinary assessment, diagnosis, consultation, referral, and, treatment for children with complex disabilities both on site and throughout the province through traveling clinics and telehealth outreach
  • Care closer to home wherever possible, including outreach clinics and consultations via telehealth long-distance video-conferencing
  • A centre dedicated to the care of women and children with HIV, offering medical, psychosocial care and support for the family

Beyond direct care

Children's advances pediatric health across the province with activities that complement the hospital's treatment services, such as:

  • Educating families and community caregivers of patients in the hospital's critical care program
  • Helping parents to stay with their children in the operating room before surgery and to comfort them as soon as possible after surgery
  • The Family Resource Library with a web-based catalogue
  • The Griefworks BC bereavement support program offered in partnership with Canuck Place Children's Hospice

Children's and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children are part of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) pediatric portfolio providing comprehensive specialized health services for children and adolescents and their families.

Research and education

Children's is affiliated with UBC and other post-secondary institutions throughout the province. As a teaching hospital, it plays an integral part in educating professionals in many disciplines who deliver all levels of care to BC Children’s. 
 
Research is a core component of all the clinical activities at Children's. Through the Child and Family Research Institute, Children’s advances the knowledge about and care for children, youth and their families. Research excellence also supports recruiting the best experts in child and youth health to the province, allowing health care providers and the provincial population to benefit from the excellence of our local resources. The Research Institute is located on the same site as Children’s, promoting a close relationship among clinicians, researchers, clinical researchers and the patients and families they support.

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