SPARK Conversations

Renée Hopfner (Empire Company Limited) and Adam Starkman (Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations) unpack what early intervention actually means, why it's becoming an urgent priority across Canada, and what happens when children and families don't get support until they're already in crisis. The episode highlights system gaps and the promise of proactive, prevention-focused care. 

Listen to episode 1 now!

Speakers:

Renée Hopfner - Head of Corporate Citizenship for Empire Company Limited

Renée leads the company’s first truly national community investment strategy.  She oversees a robust philanthropic portfolio across a broad range of retail banners, including iconic brands such as Sobeys and Safeway. She has more than 25 years of experience in both non-profit management and corporate philanthropy. She led the launch of the ‘Family of Support: Child & Youth Mental Health Initiative’ and continues to oversee the company’s impact which has resulted in more than $25 million in the last six years to support early interventions for mental health.  She also established Empire Company Limited’s ‘Community Action Fund’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has invested millions to date in hundreds of local communities across the country.

Adam Starkman - President & CEO of Canada's Children's Hospital Foundations

Adam Starkman is a passionate advocate for children’s health. Having spent more than 18 years at SickKids Foundation in Toronto, he has seen first-hand the amazing work that happens at children’s hospitals, and the key role that philanthropy plays in enabling research, innovation, and family centered care. His leadership and strong relationships with Member Foundations are crucial for driving CCHF’s success. As a strategic leader, Adam emphasizes innovation and utilizes his corporate partnerships experience and education in Design Thinking to explore creative solutions. Adam has developed and used tools, resources and methods that allow teams to think creatively together and bring forward innovative solutions to benefit the organization and its partners.

National Patient Youth Ambassador Jenna Kedy shares her personal mental health journey, offering a lived-experience perspective on the emotional and practical barriers young people face navigating care. She reflects on what earlier support could have changed and what lessons families and youth can carry forward from her experience. 

Listen to episode 2 now!

Speaker:

Jenna Kedy - Healthcare advocate, community volunteer, and university student studying family studies

“Your life doesn’t need to be defined by your illness” is the motto Jenna lives by. At age 11, Jenna was diagnosed with Juvenile idiopathic arthritis and fibromyalgia. At age 13, she developed an eating disorder and struggled with depression and anxiety. From frequent childhood visits to the IWK Emergency Department to inpatient medical and mental health care, the IWK has supported her every step. At 15, she joined the IWK Youth Advisory Council, sparking a passion for advocacy.

Dr. Leslie Roos (CHF Manitoba) and Adam Starkman (Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations) look ahead to a more connected, prevention-focused mental health system. They discuss closing regional gaps, strengthening collaboration between hospitals and communities, and the role of corporate investment in expanding access to care nationwide. 

Listen episode 3 now!

Speakers:

Dr. Leslie Roos - Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba with appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics, and the host of the You’re Doing It Right podcast

Her research focuses on improving parent mental health and strengthening family relationships to support children’s wellbeing. Dr. Roos leads research into developing and evaluating scalable programs that support families experiencing stress, beginning in the prenatal period. Her work combines insights from psychology, neuroscience, and parent-child research to identify practical ways to improve family wellbeing. She collaborates with community organizations and research teams to advance accessible, equitable, evidence-based supports for families. Dr. Roos completed her clinical residency at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon. She is a former Junior Fellow at the Harvard Centre on the Developing Child and current Canadian Institutes of Health Research Chair in Implementation Science.

Adam Starkman - President & CEO of Canada's Children's Hospital Foundations

Adam Starkman is a passionate advocate for children’s health. Having spent more than 18 years at SickKids Foundation in Toronto, he has seen first-hand the amazing work that happens at children’s hospitals, and the key role that philanthropy plays in enabling research, innovation, and family centered care. His leadership and strong relationships with Member Foundations are crucial for driving CCHF’s success. As a strategic leader, Adam emphasizes innovation and utilizes his corporate partnerships experience and education in Design Thinking to explore creative solutions. Adam has developed and used tools, resources and methods that allow teams to think creatively together and bring forward innovative solutions to benefit the organization and its partners.

E1 with Julia Hanigsberg | Beyond Bandaids: Collective Action to Right-Size Children's Healthcare Systems 

E2 with Dr. Leigh Chapman & Rebecca Earle | Beyond Bandaids: Retaining Nurses in Pediatric Healthcare

E3 with Alex Munter | Right-Sizing health systems: The systems-focused Children’s Hospital

E4 with Dr. Meredith Irwin & Dr. Steven Miller | The Pediatric Workforce: Right-sizing the HHR system for kids

E5 with Dr. Christine Chambers | Child Health Research: The Foundation of Rightsizing Child Health Systems

E6 with Dr. Holden Sheffield & Crystal Edwards | Care Without Borders: Strategies for Delivering Quality Healthcare to Kids in Rural and Remote Communities 

E7 with Tatum Wilson | Collective action and Advocacy: Coalitions and right-sizing children's healthcare

E8 with Dr. Tara Kiran | Right-sizing healthcare systems for kids: Primary care access

E9 with Maureen Charlebois | Homecare: A key element of right-sized health systems

E10 with Kate Horton & Karima Karmali | How Ronald McDonald House Charities is Helping to Right Size Healthcare for Kids

E11 with ‘Remi Ejiwunmi | The Role of Community Hospitals in Right-Sizing Children’s Healthcare

E12 with Meghan Hanley & Steve Read | Big Hearts, Huge Impact: Philanthropy and the Future of Kids’ Healthcare

E13 with Danielle Flieler & Jim Armour | Federal Election 45 Results: Impact on children, their health, and healthcare

E14 with Fabiana Bacchini | Family partnership and lived experience: A core component for right-sizing child health systems

E15 with Rochelle Reid | Equity-Driven Systems: Right-Sizing Healthcare for Every Child

E16 with Lauren Ettin | A Right-Sized Model that Works: Learning from Ontario’s pediatric cancer care system

E17 with Megan Wright & Denise Praill | The Power of Pediatric Palliative Care: Equity, Access, and Hope

E18 with Jennifer Churchill & Alison Morrison | Right-Sizing Children’s Healthcare: The Critical Role of Community-Based Developmental Care

SPECIAL EDITION with Dr. Lindy Samson & Dr. Sarah McNab | 'Tis the season - Flu, RSV, and COVID: A heads-up from down under

E19 with Dr. Vera Etches | Right-sizing Children’s Healthcare: Connecting care & building capacity beyond the hospital walls

E20 with Emily Gruenwoldt | Right-Sizing Reflections: The evidence, the urgency and the opportunity

Episode 1 | Children’s pain management: A new standard to improve care

• Dr. Katie Birnie, Clinical Psychologist, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, University of Calgary; Associate Scientific Director, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP); Clinician, Alberta Children’s Hospital

Episode 2 | Integrating Pediatric Social Determinants of Health for Children in Canada

• Dr. Justine Cohen-Silver, Investigator, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital; Staff pediatrician, Women and Children’s Health Program, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital; Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Temerity Faculty of Medicine; Research Director, Department of Pediatrics, St. Joseph’s Health Centre; Medical site lead, Model Schools Pediatric Health Initiative, Parkdale Public School, Unity Health Toronto.

Episode 3 | Navigating the Child and Youth Mental Health Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities

• Guest: Dr. Javeed Sukhera, Chair of Psychiatry, the Institute of Living (IOL); Chief of Psychiatry, Hartford Hospital; Associate Clinical Professor, Yale University's School of Medicine

Episode 4 | SPARK: Conversations LIVE | Creating Equitable and Inclusive Healthcare Systems for Children and Families

• View live video recording
• Guests:
  • Dr. Nel Wieman, Acting Chief Medical Officer, the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia
  • Dr. John (JC) Cowden, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City; General Academic Pediatrician, Children’s Mercy Kansas City

Episode 5 | A Pediatric Student-Led Clinic: One model to help right-size children’s healthcare

• Guest: Kiersten McMaster, Physiotherapist - Student Led Clinic, BC Centre for Ability

Episode 1 | Getting the Facts Straight: Tackling mis/disinformation through patient-provider relationships

• Guest: Dr. Katharine Smart, Pediatrician, Past President of the Canadian Medical Association

Episode 2 | Healing the Healthcare System: staff burnout, honest leadership, and collaboration 

• Guest: Dr. Katharine Smart, Pediatrician, Past President of the Canadian Medical Association

Episode 3 | Community hospitals: Key to an integrated healthcare system for children and youth   

• Guest: Alison Quigley, Senior Vice-President, Patient Care Services & Master Plan Clinical Lead, Trillium Health Partners

Episode 4 | Health Systems Transformation: Learning from Experts on Ways to Inform System Change

• Guest: Helen Bevan

Episode 5 | Spirit Bears Guide to Reconciliation: Utilizing Jordan’s Principle and the Spirit Bear Plan to achieve culturally based equity for First Nations Children

• Guest: Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director and co-founder, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada; Associate Professor & Director of First Nations Children’s Action Research and Education Service, University of Alberta; Professor, McGill’s School of Social Work

Episode 6 | Child Health Research: Thinking out of the Typical Health Care System Box

• Guest: Dr. Jason Berman, CEO and Scientific Director; CHEO Research Institute; Vice-President Research, CHEO

Episode 7 | Child Health in the Media: A Snapshot of the Media Representation of Child Health

• Guest: Carly Weeks, Journalist, The Globe and Mail

Episode 8 | Health System Leadership: Leading Beyond Complexities to Effectively Transform Health Systems 

• Guest: Dr. Michael Gardam, Michael is the Chief Executive Officer at Health PEI

Episode 01 | Integration of and Innovation in Child Health Systems: The promise and perils of Joined-Up Governance

• Guest: Eyal Cohen co-founded the Complex Care Program in the Division of Pediatric Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children, where he is Program Head of Child Health Evaluative Sciences in the Research Institute. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and co-Director of the Leong Centre for Healthy Children at the University of Toronto with cross-appointments in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.

Episode 02 | COVID, Equity, and Child Health: Vaccines, Passports, and Impacts

• Guest: Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, Department Head of Critical Care, The Ottawa Hospital

Episode 03 | Learning from Lived Experience: Family Partnerships for Pain and Child Health Research

• Guest: Dr. Katie Birnie, Clinical Psychologist, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine,University of Calgary; Associate Scientific Director, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP)

Episode 04 | Climate Change: A Child Health Issue Now and Into the Future

• Guest: Dr. Anna Gunz, Paediatric Intensive Care Doctor, Children's Hospital, London Health Sciences Center; Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University

Episode 05 | Getting the Message Across: Clear Communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Guest: Dr. Sankar, Science Advisor & Community Partnerships Lead, ScienceUpFirst

Episode 06 | More than just a Tick Box: Building Back Better through Family Engagement

• Guest: Rachel Martens, Research Engagement Strategist with the Family Engagement in Research Course

Episode 07 | Child Health and Wellness Research: A Priority to Transform Children’s Healthcare

• Guest: Susa Benseler, MD, PhD; Director, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine; Strategy Lead, Child Health and Wellness Research Strategy; Cenovus Energy Chair in Child and Maternal Health; Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation Chair in Paediatric Research; University of Calgary

Episode 08 | COVID's Impact on Routine Immunizations

• Dr. Sadarangani, Director, Vaccine Evaluation Centre; Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

Episode 09 | Missed Opportunities Can Last a Lifetime: The State of Infant and Early Mental Health in Canada

• Guest: Dr. Chaya Kulkarni, Director of Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion (IEMHP)

Episode 01 | Saying Yes to Less: Resource Stewardship in Children’s Healthcare

Episode 02 | Inspiring Healthy Futures: #WeCANforKids

Episode 03 | Pharmacare Fit for Kids

Episode 04 | Learning Systems in Child Health: Connecting 'What We Do' with 'What We Know'

Episode 05 | Raising Hope from the Ground Up: Building children's healthcare in Canada

Episode 06 | Children's Hospitals of the Future: Creating Conditions for Healthy Kids

Episode 07 | The COVID-19 Vaccine and Canada's Children and Youth