Welcome to the Southern Alberta Child & Youth Health Network!
The Southern Alberta Child & Youth Health Network is a dynamic, voluntary collaboration among individuals and organizations concerned with the health and well being of all children, youth and families.
Message from Parents
As parents we are pleased to be involved in, and welcome you to, the Southern Alberta Child & Youth Health Network. We know first hand the importance of cooperation and communication when coordinating the health, education and social services that assist us in raising our children. Geographic distance from needed resources is also a challenge faced by many of us.
SACYHN, also known as the Network, is a forum for discussing and addressing issues that affect all facets of child and youth health and well being. By building and sustaining linkages among a variety of partners, we are able to bridge gaps related to distance, communication, and coordination of services thereby strengthening the relationship between families and service providers and improving care for our children.
Raising all children with the kind of support that optimizes every child’s potential is the common goal of all partners in SACYHN.
Background
The initial impetus for SACYHN was related to the discussion about building a new Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. Early planning sessions reinforced a commitment to creating a comprehensive network that would include many child-serving sectors and a broad definition of health.
The development of the Network is also in keeping with the Alberta Government’s Children and Youth Initiative. Its primary goal is that Alberta’s children will be well cared for, safe, successful at learning, and healthy. A comprehensive system of integrated health services for children that stretches across health regions and other child serving systems will help meet that goal.
SACYHN brings together parents and youth, ministries, organizations, regional authorities, and agencies to focus on optimizing the health and well being of children and youth. Mrs.Colleen Klein is Honorary Chair of the SACYHN Steering Committee. The Network is a mechanism to develop a shared vision and purpose, to involve families and service providers in significant ways in service planning, to identify and create opportunities for positive change, to build inter-regional, cross-sector, and clinical connections, and to pursue electronic linkages.
The intent is to work in concert to ensure that the broad health needs of children and youth are met. The Network will support programs, services, and information resources that focus on the needs of children and families, and that are accessible and as close to home as possible. The focus will be on promoting high quality, accessible, connected programs, services, and information resources along the full continuum from promotion to specialized treatment for all children and youth.
This is an ambitious, complex task. It requires many hands: parents, community organizations, regional authorities, and ministries all making equally important contributions.