Your Donations at Work
Your gifts save lives. They buy specialized equipment used at the Janeway each day to make children better, they make life-saving research possible, and they provide continuing education to our amazing healthcare heroes to ensure they are up-to-date on the most recent advancements in care.
Thank you!
Your gifts make a big impact. Here are some of the things you made possible:
Equipment
Caring for premature or sick newborns and expectant moms begins with specialized training, and the equipment required to ensure that mom and the tiniest, most vulnerable patients are taken care of is very specialized.
Click here for a story about how this equipment helps kids like Paige and Parker who were born premature.
- Your gifts bought an Air Transport System – a mobile intensive care unit to transport premature, sick, and medically complex infants to the Janeway, ensuring that they are fully supported during the journey. Babies are flown to the Janeway from all areas of the province for the Level III NICU care that they need to survive.
- Your gifts bought Incubators – these are designed to provide a safe, specially controlled environment, with continual monitoring that is vital in caring for the smallest, most vulnerable premature babies and sick full-term babies, helping them to survive tough beginnings.
- Your gifts bought an Advanced Birthing Simulator – used to mimic labor problems, high risk delivery situations and emergencies that may arise during birth. Practicing these challenges in a simulation environment provides exceptional training that helps to save lives during deliveries.
- Your gifts bought a Birthing Bed System – advanced birthing bed technology helps to make the birthing experience safer for moms and attending staff. The birth of a baby can be one of life’s happiest moments, but it can sometimes be unpredictable.
Surgeries involving the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves are some of the most delicate surgeries performed and require very specialized neurosurgical equipment.
Click here for a story about how this equipment helps kids like Jacob, diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumour that required neurosurgery to remove.
- Your gifts bought a Neuro-navigation System – a set of computer-assisted technologies used to guide neurosurgeons within the skull or vertebral column during surgeries.
- Your gifts bought a Neurosurgery Microscope – especially designed for surgeries involving the brain, spinal cord, and spine. Equipped with a binocular head, adjustable eye pieces and foot controls for freedom of arm movement, it brightens and magnifies the deeper parts of the operating area.
Vital in the care of children of all ages, defibrillators are devices that send an electric pulse or shock to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat.
- Your gifts bought 9 Defibrillators for the Janeway – they are used to prevent or correct an uneven heartbeat that is too slow or too fast, or if the heart suddenly stops, defibrillators can also help it beat again. This past Christmas season, hundreds of incredible donors came together to purchase these vital tools ensuring our healthcare heroes have what they need, right where they are needed, to save the lives of kids in every area of the hospital, be it Emergency, Surgery, or the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Education
Healthcare is constantly changing and evolving with new technologies, practices, and treatment protocols, providing real implications to patient care.
These changes and discoveries impact how patients should be assessed and treated. We want to ensure our medical team has access to the best continuing education to enhance their knowledge base to give children the highest levels of care possible.
As such, each year, through the generosity of our donors, the Janeway Foundation awards continuing education grants totaling $100,000 to pediatric healthcare staff.
For instance, an education grant from the Janeway Foundation was the driving force behind the creation of a virtual three-day education conference focusing on pediatric complex pain, led by the Janeway’s Shawna Sparkes, Reg.PT and Colleen Jones Down, Reg.PT. 
Pediatric Complex Pain – The Janeway Children’s Hospital identified a need for a multidisciplinary Pediatric Complex Pain team to help support children with complex or chronic pain.
Given the virtual platform and the range of presenting speakers, 45-55 Janeway staff members took part in each presentation with topics ranging from pain research, best practices, comfort in care, pain management and discipline specific education.
The Janeway is now working towards establishing a multidisciplinary team focusing on pediatric complex pain.
Without you, the Janeway Foundation’s generous donors, the funding for this conference would not have been possible. The feedback received from the presenters and attendees, and the knowledge that was gained, will have a tremendous impact on the care children receive to help in their pain management.
Also, the SMoRRES course provides education on the strategies for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Thanks to your donations, we now have speech language pathologists in St. John’s, Marystown, Clarenville, and Harbour Grace as well as a member from NLESD with this specialized training to help children across the province.
Click here for a story about Raya who is seven years old and has Rett Syndrome. For children, like Raya, who aren’t able to communicate traditionally, there are specific communication tools that can be used to make up for these impairments or disabilities. These include gestures, eye gaze, vocalizations, sign language, and facial expressions. Thank you for giving the gift of communication to those who need additional supports!
Research
Because of vital research, right here at home, innovations in pediatric medicine are possible for Newfoundland and Labrador’s children.
Perseverance and determination are ever present at The Janeway Pediatric Research Unit (JPRU), making innovations in pediatric medicine possible for children in Newfoundland and Labrador. Each year gifts that are given to the Janeway Foundation through the many events and fundraisers that happen make the JPRU’s research possible.
For instance, Jacob Whelan was the first child in the world diagnosed with his condition. Dr. Paul Dancey, his colleagues and team discovered Jacob had what is now called DIRA. Since this discovery 15 years ago, there are now over 50 diagnosed cases in the world. 
Thanks to your generous gifts, they can continue to do the research necessary to advance care right here at home, for kids like Jacob and so many others.
More recently, academic work by trainees, clinicians, residents, and researchers has increased over the last year, demonstrated by the growing numbers of new studies, research funding and publications. Since 2020 there have been over 80 active projects and more than 170 publications. We all know that the pandemic has been particularly challenging for children and youth, evidenced by increasing rates of adverse mental health outcomes.
Whether it is Dr. Surya Shah’s participation in an international research collaboration studying the effects of COVID-19 on pediatric heart disease, Dr. Anna Dominic’s research on alarming rates of eating disorders during the pandemic, or Dr. Cheryl Foo’s study on pediatric infectious diseases, the JPRU research teams are making a definitive contribution to pediatric healthcare.
The JPRU researchers are focused on our kids – on the issues that impact children in Newfoundland and Labrador, and on the local implications of global pediatric challenges.
The Janeway Foundation is investing $250,000 in research this year to continue this important work.
Ongoing Child Health Programs that are funded by the Janeway Foundation annually in addition to equipment, education, and research:
- Music Therapy is the clinical use of music to promote mental and emotional health and improve the quality of life for children
with psychological or physical conditions. It is highly effective in relieving stress and anxiety, warding off depression and helping children learn to move in a fun environment decreasing their overall muscle tension. - North Star Child and Youth Advocacy Centre supports children and youth who have been victims of or witnesses to abuse, violence, and other crimes. It brings together a multidisciplinary team to provide client-centered, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive care: education for the next generation of health professionals; and lead community outreach efforts to raise awareness about child an youth victimization
customized services delivered in a safe space will help lessen the short and long-term impacts of abuse and violence children and youth experience. The Janeway Foundation provides funding to help create and adapt clinical spaces, build capacity for care by educating the next generation of mental health leaders, and invest in mental health literacy and prevention programs. - The Therapeutic Play Garden was built specifically for the Janeway Development and Rehabilitation Department to encourage promotion of normal growth and development through physical movement and exploration. It is a welcome environment, not only for patient therapy
and treatment, but also for a much-needed retreat for relaxation, stress relief, and reflection. The Garden’s ongoing maintenance and upkeep is funded by the Janeway Foundation. - Annual matching grants totaling $50,000 to regional hospitals offering pediatric care during 2021-22 were awarded to the following:
• Charles S. Curtis Memorial/St. Anthony: toward funding Pediatric Emergency Carts and Autism Kits and Education Material
• Central Northeast Health Foundation/Gander: toward funding a Bilimeter, ADHD & ASD Pediatrician Toolkits, and Bassinets
• Trinity Conception Placentia Health Foundation/Carbonear: toward funding the Baby Friendly Initiative, and equipment for Children’s Dental Surgery
• Western Regional Hospital Foundation/Corner Brook: toward funding MedFusion IV Pumps
• Labrador Health Centre/Happy Valley-Goose Bay: toward funding a Vein Viewer, 3 Pediatric Emergency Carts, and MedFusion IV Pumps
• Burin Peninsula Health Care Foundation/Grand Bank and St. Lawrence: toward funding Pediatric Emergency Carts
