NEO Kids Foundation raising cash for proposed Sudbury children's hospital

On average, once everyhour, a sick child from northeastern Ontario has to make a trip tosouthern Ontario for health care.

That's according to the NEO Kids Foundation and it's a part of the revampedpitch beingprepared to convince the provinceto build a dedicatedchildren's hospital in Sudbury.

• NEO Kids expansion needs stronger business case, LHIN says

Patricia Mills, president of the newly established foundation,said the ultimate goalis to consolidate thecluster of services currently availablefor sick children in Sudbury and northeastern Ontario into a new pediatric health care centre similar to Sick Kids in Toronto.

Mills said at the moment, pediatric services at Health Sciences Northareat critical mass.

"There's nowhere to treat our sick children," she said. "We don't have the space anymore."

In June, the region'sLocal Health Integration Network, or LHIN,declined to recommend the proposed centre to the province, saying that Health Sciences North would have to do more to justify the estimated $55 millioncost of the stand-alone facility.

Redoubling their efforts to hammer out the business case, the NEO Kids Foundation has now started to raise money for the proposednew centre. It also recently received a sizeable community endorsement in the form ofa $500,000 cheque from the Health Sciences North Volunteer Association.

"[But] the foundation was started up not just to raise money for the new centre," Mills said. "We identified that there's rising incidences of chronic illnesses among children."

"NEO Kids is really a philosophy of care," she continued. "The foundation will raise money for all of the children's programs and priorities at HSN not just the new centre."

According the the foundation's website, kids in northern Ontario have poorer health overall than their southern counterparts, and"demand for services is expected to grow by up to 40 per cent over the next 10 years."

Listen to the complete interview with Patricia Mills here.

Morning North6:58NEO Kids Foundation pushing for kids hospital in Sudbury

If you build it, they will come. The NEO Kids Foundation is raising money for Sudbury to have its own kid's hospital. Patricia Mills is the president of the NEO Kids Foundation. She joined us in studio to tell us more about the need for a kid's hospital.