Foreword
When your child is diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord disorder, your family is forced into a foreign world. Your new reality is filled with many questions about your child’s health and future. Fear, hope and uncertainty are just a few emotions that may inundate you.
Pediatric neurosurgery at the Stollery Children’s Hospital is a surgical service that prides itself on providing excellent clinical care. Our service collaborates with many other specialists to ensure that all the appropriate personnel are involved in your child’s care. The Neurosurgery Kids Fund (NKF) is a charitable organization whose mandate is to improve the journey our children and families will undertake.
The Compass is the brainchild of mothers who thought that a roadmap would help meet the needs of their children. This document is designed to help parents understand the language and medical jargon they’ll hear.
The Compass is also designed to help parents and families navigate within the health care system, to advocate for their loved one and to deal with the psychosocial aspects of a child’s illness. It is a manual that will help families during their journey and a testament to how a committed parent can improve our community.
Vivek Mehta MD, MSc, FRCSC
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
