By Grant Warkentin
Over the last five years, a special house in Campbell River has helped hundreds of North Island families seeking medical help for their children.
Qwalayu House opened in 2021 right next to the Campbell River hospital, a home away from home for families who need to travel to town for medical appointments. Since then, 165 families from around the Strathcona Regional District have used the house, for a total of 4,376 nights, and an average stay of nine-and-a-half days.
Veronica Carroll, chief executive officer for the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, spoke to the Strathcona Regional District board last week to provide an update on how the house has been used since it opened, and how construction on a new house in Nanaimo is going.
Carroll said the need continues to grow for facilities such as Qwalayu House, with travel times and fuel costs a growing burden for families in need.
“We know the distances are really daunting for families, particularly if they have health challenges that they’re are trying to work through with their kids,” she said. “We know that families face huge out-of-pocket expenses, and that is really one of the ways in which we’re trying to support families.”
Carroll provided a breakdown of how the house in Campbell River is being used. Families from the Area A region, which covers from Campbell River north to Sayward, west to Nootka Island, and north again to the Kyuquot region, were the largest user group with 55 visits. Second was Area C (Quadra Island) with 31 visits, and Area B (Cortes Island) was third with 22 visits. There were also 30 visits from families in Gold River, 10 from Zeballos, and 5 from Tahsis.
“It’s good to see that it’s achieving the success that we really hoped that it would,” said Ron Kerr, board representative for Campbell River. “Those numbers really show just how much the region needed it, and are using it.”
Carroll said they want to see those numbers increase as much as possible.
We’re trying to encourage more families across the North Island and elsewhere to take advantage of the house because it is a resource that’s meant to be used and loved, and cared for,” she said. “We want occupancy to be as high as we can possibly get it.”
Carroll said the new home in Nanaimo will be open next April, in time for the foundation’s 100th anniversary.
The foundation’s first home away from home was Jeneece Place at Victoria General Hospital, built in 2012. Campbell River was the second, and the new home in Nanaimo, Jesse’s Place, will help families on the northern half of the Island who need care not offered elsewhere, such as parents with children in Nanaimo’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Featured image: Inside Qwalayu House. From Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island
Leave a Reply