January 18, 2025
Leading the way
Leading the way
An interview with Julia Hanigsberg, President and CEO,
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
What do you see as some of the most critical moments or milestones in Holland Bloorview’s 125 year history?
I would have to go all the way back to 1899 when the “Ladies Committee” came together to create a hospital that would meet the needs of children who weren’t being served. Their foresight is the beginning of what we have become today.
The first nursery school opening showed the foresight of our predecessors. The needs of children and families are holistic and those early childhood experiences are formative in children’s development and by bringing together children with disabilities and typically developing children and their families we were already breaking down stigma.
The merger of the Bloorview Children’s Hospital and the Hugh McMillan Centre is another pivotal milestone where more comprehensive care was made possible. Bringing all these programs together in the state of the art building that opened in 2006 marked an important moment in our history.
Holland Bloorview’s designation as an academic health sciences centre with full affiliation with the University of Toronto marked a turning point. With the establishment of the Bloorview Research Institute and the Teaching and Learning Institute we began our journey to world renown as a centre of excellence for research and teaching in the field of childhood onset disability and developmental differences.
Making client and family integrated care a priority, investing in these key values and embracing family leadership has been one of the most important things that has contributed to Holland Bloorview being what it is today. We couldn’t do what we do without child, youth and family engagement, co-design and leadership in all we do.
Additionally, the transformational Holland family gift changed us forever and catapulted us forward. Bill and Suzanne Holland’s generosity is the best known example of the impact that each and every donor has on our ability to provide the care and services that children and families need.
Can you share some key moments from your time that have significantly shaped the evolution of this organization?
Our focus on anti-stigma is something I am very proud of. The Dear Everybody campaign was the beginning of a new focus on public awareness of disability and breaking down the stigma experienced by kids with disabilities across all aspects of their lives.
Opening the Jason Smith research tower was also an exciting milestone as we created new, expanded, vibrant and state of the art research, discovery and innovation space for the Bloorview Research Institute.
I see innovation around me every day. It’s exciting to see our development as a learning health system with research and care in dialogue with one another for the best outcomes for kids. Seeing digital technology come out of the lab to the orthotics and prosthetics clinic or the near science fiction of seeing children paint, play and move around through brain computer interface are things that my predecessors could only have dreamed of.
It is also exciting to see sophisticated data analysis being embedded into decision making and the emerging impact of artificial intelligence in the field of pediatric disability. Our leadership will ensure that the healthcare and services for children with disabilities benefit from the most advanced new technologies.
Embedding inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and anti-racism (IDEAA) in our strategy is something I am very proud of. Our team is engaged in hard and important work to address health equity and disparities in care to ensure every child and family and every member of our team can be confident that they belong at Holland Bloorview.
Additionally, we are collaborating with children’s hospitals in new and important ways. One phenomenal outcome of this approach was the provincial government’s historic investment in children’s healthcare that has enable Holland Bloorview to expand our services.
Embracing Schwartz Rounds has enhanced our ability to be a compassionate hospital caring for our team. Joining the North American safety collaborative Solutions for Patient Safety has enabled us to ensure zero harm is a front burner goal. There are too many amazing things I have seen to count!
How has the mission and vision of Holland Bloorview evolved over the years?
I think at its core Holland Bloorview has the same commitments exemplified at its founding. We may use different words but our team’s belief in the inherent worth of every child and commitment to the best possible care and outcomes for those children who we serve in our walls and far beyond is at the heart of who we are.
What do you think are some of the most important learnings over our 125 year history?
By embracing client and family integrated care we are making sure that our focus is on what is meaningful and important for children and families. Sometimes that is the most sophisticated and novel medical intervention. Other times it is peer mentoring, a sibling workshop or everything a child learns at Spiral Garden camp.
How has the organization adapted to the changing needs of clients and families?
The children we serve in 2024 are vastly more complex in their medical and social needs than the founders of Holland Bloorview would ever have imagined in 1899. There have also been miraculous discoveries and inventions that have lengthened children’s lifespans and provided them with enhanced quality of life.
Even ten years ago we rarely talked about the sexuality of youth with disabilities or providing gender affirming care and supportive environments. We now have the tools to better understand the socio-demographic make up of our clients so we can ensure we have the expertise and services they need.
We have had to evolve our care, our staffing and our programs to address gaps that families experience. For example, the Extensive Needs Service is one of our newest programs that we founded, along with McMaster Children’s Hospital and CHEO, that addresses highest need children with a mix of developmental, mental health, medical and social needs.
What are some of the main goals and aspirations for Holland Bloorview in the next decade?
We are becoming a learning health system – the first that focuses exclusively on children’s disability and developmental differences. As a learning health system care, research and data will interact to enable rapid development of evidence informed approaches to care and research designed to advance the health and well-being of children, youth and families. We are on track to become a global centre of excellence in pediatric disability.
I want to expand our Teaching and Learning Institute to dramatically increase the number of people with expertise in the area of childhood disability and developmental differences. This includes the most specialized healthcare providers but also the knowledge that every primary care provider must have to ensure everyone gets the healthcare they need and have a right to.
We need more interconnected care across children’s healthcare and to address the period of emerging into adulthood and the needs of adults with disabilities. Holland Bloorview can help to co-design this future state.
How do you envision the future of children’s health care evolving and what role will Holland Bloorview play in that future?
Holland Bloorview will continue to evolve its care and services to meet the needs of children, youth and families. That will mean developing new programs, researching new areas and training new clinicians for the challenges of the future.
On December 16, we will commemorate the 125th anniversary. What message do you hope to convey to future staff, clients and families, volunteers and learners?
To each and every future member of our staff, children, youth, families and volunteers: each and every one of you can have the influence on the Holland Bloorview of the future that your predecessors have had in our first 125 years.