Going above and beyond: Meet the recipients of the President’s Award

Rose Ancona treats every patient and family that comes to 5A with kindness, compassion, respect and a warm, friendly smile. She is a beacon of light, advocating for those who are struggling with language or financial barriers to care and connecting them with the resources they need, both at SickKids and in the community. For staff, she is resourceful, knowing where and how to get anything done to help the 5A team provide exceptional care.

“Rose is the first person that many people meet on 5A. She greets everyone with a friendly smile, even if they are the 200th person she is coming in contact with that day. She has eyes and ears in the back of her head and treats every family and patient that walks past the nursing station with kindness and professionalism… She will ensure that we are supported before we have even ask her to make that call.”

Not only thinking about the present, but also about the future and how things can be improved, Dr. Natasha Collia strives to unleash the talent of our people. As a leader in the ED, Natasha is focused on quality improvement and continuing education, developing several educational programs, for both staff and caregivers, that not only advance care but also reflect different cultural practices. She uses her social media presence to help educate families about timely health topics and tips for caring for children at home before visiting the ED.

“Dr. Collia continues to keep the organization’s core values and mission statement in mind when clinically working and when providing education. Her focus is not just the present but thinking about the future and how things can be improved at all different levels of the organizations.”

“The face of the program is the autonomous nurses, supported by the team’s leadership. In 2021, the two nurse practitioners and two registered nurses completed more than 1,100 consults and supported families and teams by phone and e-mail over hundreds more encounters... the G-Tube Feeding Program’s mission is to deliver the highest quality of care to families and tube-fed children.”

“A person’s grief trajectory is rarely a straight line and always unique. While the Pathways Grief Support Program focuses on the first year of bereavement, our program has an open-door policy… Caregivers appreciate this flexible approach to support. Most desire our services immediately; others are ready for assistance months later.”

Providing the absolute best in child and family-centred care remains the core value guiding our work at SickKids. This vision can rarely be achieved without significant integration of research into clinical care. Dr. George Ibrahim achieves this challenging balance. While still early in his career, George has already published over 200 peer-reviewed publications, spearheaded Canada’s first deep brain stimulation clinic, developed completely personalized precision medicine for his patients, and brought cutting-edge neurosurgical procedures to Canadian children who before had to either travel to the U.S. for treatment or were simply unable to access this kind of personalized care.

“As the founding director of Canada’s first and only deep brain stimulation clinic, Dr. Ibrahim works closely with patients and their families to guide them through treatment decisions for conditions that would otherwise be untreatable. Our laboratory, which studies deep brain and other forms of brain stimulation, encompasses more than 10 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and researchers – all of whom have been inspired by Dr. Ibrahim to pursue this vision for paediatric health care in Canada.”

Cory Murphy makes a difference in the lives of children with cancer and their families. Working as a Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Interlink Nurse at SickKids, she is a bridge between SickKids and home, bringing support to patients and families in their homes and communities, and returning to SickKids with vital information for their primary teams, contributing to a seamless child and family experience. Cory helps them with school reintegration, reviews new diagnosis teachings in their homes, assesses individual patient and family needs, provides sibling support, and ensures patients and families have the appropriate resources available to them.

“Cory is a valued colleague and friend who cares not only for patients and families, but for the colleagues and friends she so closely works with. She is well respected and valued by her multidisciplinary colleagues... SickKids is a better place because of her.”

Dodge Baena is an incredibly dedicated, hardworking, creative, and caring service provider. Like the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” Dodge's impact is deeply felt across the organization. Over his 30-plus year career at SickKids he has photographed thousands of staff, patients and families, including families grieving the anticipated or actual death of their babies, children and teens. He does this out of the goodness of his heart, on top of his other responsibilities, a quiet partner in telling their story of love, grief and loss.

“His photography supports employee engagement and recognition by showcasing and celebrating staff on SickKids internal and external channels. He not only supports Public Affairs and HR in these efforts, but also makes sure the staff member being featured has photos for their enjoyment, too. His work with the Paediatric Advanced Care Team positively impacts patient and family experience during one of the most difficult times of these families’ lives.”

Jackie Hubbert makes sure that respect, integrity and excellence are not just words, but are at the core of our culture. She is a transformational leader – resilient and positive through many unforeseen and ever-changing challenges. Jackie is well known and respected for her collaborative approach, ensuring all voices are heard. She empowers her teams to lead and solve problems, resulting in team depth and strength, leading to significant contributions both at SickKids and the broader system.

“Simply put, Jackie is the heart and soul of our programs. The scope of her impact and outstanding leadership is far-reaching… Jackie firmly believes everyone contributes to the best of their unique abilities when barriers are removed, and consistently challenges her leaders to do the same, enabling growth and maturity.” 

“The Safe Access Management leadership worked to ensure we had a balanced approach always integrating safety with compassion while ensuring flow of clinical services. This led to advocacy for patients and caregivers, such as organizing a safe/warm space for waiting for those second caregivers who had brought a sick child to the ED or an extended family that rushed to the hospital because of a child experiencing a trauma.”