Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare has a bold new goal.
Staff wants to eliminate the wait list for kids in Windsor-Essex, and they want to do it within the next six to nine months.
Services through Hotel Dieu target kids starting at the age of six, and include crisis services, intensive treatment and multiple different types of therapy.
"We don't want anyone having to wait on a wait list so we are moving on a journey where we are looking at all of our services and trying to redefine ourselves and define our work and see how else we can do it to be able to move towards that zero wait list," says Vice President of Mental Health Addictions, Sonja Grbevski, adding they want to be available whenever someone needs them.
She says right now there are about 245 kids in Windsor-Essex on waiting lists that can take up to three or four months and admits the timeline is daring, but says her staff is committed and adds "as we continue to learn about ourselves and implement what those best practices are, a lot of education does go with this but again I can't emphasize enough the caliber of my staff here and their commitment and their passion."
Grbevski says if the wait list can be eliminated or at least reduced, it will also lighten the load for local school boards. She says staff work very closely with the boards to create a fluid system and any way they can all support each other will help create a healthier community.