Pictured above: Leaders from CHEO, CHEO Foundation, Pablo, his girlfriend Vic, and donors to the CHEO Mental Health Unit.   

Thanks to $1.5 million in donations to CHEO Foundation, the hospital successfully converted old offices into four single, safety-focused rooms, increasing capacity by almost 20 per cent. CHEO also added a meeting room, dining room and kitchen, which provides crisis stabilization and treatment for children and youth. In addition, the rooms offer space for group activities, classroom learning and for young patients to connect with their families. 

The new spaces also include: 

• a Snoezelen (or multi-sensory) room that provides a calming environment; 
• safety pods for young patients to calm down safely; and
  
• a second nursing station for the now 19-bed unit. 
  

The new rooms come at a time where demand for mental health care at CHEO has been surging for years. Before, limited space meant that when the unit met capacity, young patients would be placed in other areas of the hospital such as Inpatient Medicine or Oncology, which may not offer the right care. 

“Addressing the mental health crisis in our youth requires us to have the capacity and tools to do so," says Joanne Lowe, CHEO's Vice-President, Mental Health and Addictions. “This new space will not only allow us to care for more young patients, but also provide them and their families with the right space and conditions to care for them." 

To mark the occasion, Pablo Maya, 18, snipped the purple ribbon alongside his girlfriend Vic and his mother, Wendy. Pablo, who's struggled with his mental health since the age of seven, has relied on every mental health service at CHEO, from hospitalizations to assessments and treatments. 

What does Pablo think of the new spaces? 

“I think the room with the TV will be beneficial because that's one thing I didn't have when I was here. I can see the Zen Room being a big thing because music took me out of a darker place. Being able to listen to music, which I was able to do while in the ward, was a good escape. The beds feel more like a bed, and less like what they are in the other wards, which are more like hospital beds." 

These new rooms will not only offer the chance for Pablo and other young patients to receive the highest standard of care, but to also get better for themselves and the people they care about. 

More renovations are underway to expand the emergency department and ensure a safe space for patients in distress or in need of immediate mental health care. 

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