It’s Variety Week on Global BC and we’re highlighting stories from children and families around the province who have been helped by Variety.
Variety Week on Global BC – Day 1
Global News Morning:
Variety Ambassadors Mary Zilba and 13-year-old Ella van Enter were live in studio to discuss Variety Week and the Ambassador program. To enable and empower children, youth and adults become ambassadors of Variety and advocate for children who have special needs by helping their communities understand the unique challenges those children face, and the importance of raising funds to help families across B.C.
Global News at Noon:
Variety provided a $250,000 grant to the Carlile Youth Concurrent Disorders Centre (CYCDC) at the Hope Centre at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. The 10-bed inpatient unit is designed to meet unique needs of youth age 13-18 with serious concurrent disorders, and will be the first facility of its kind in British Columbia. Tanis Evans, Manager, Mental Health and Addictions, and Dr. Jordan Cohen, Medical Manager of the regional centre give Variety’s Executive Director Kristy Gill a tour of the Centre, currently under construction, and set to open in April 2017.
Global News at 5:
Earlier this year, Variety provided a grant to Colwood Elementary School on Vancouver Island. Colwood Elementary’s playground is non-inclusive for children in wheelchairs, meaning some of the students are left out, and unable to play with their friends.
The grant from Variety will help fund a piece of equipment called a “Sway Fun”, a wheelchair accessible outdoor play glider, suitable for children of all abilities.
Global News Hour at 6:
Oliver was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech, a complex motor speech disorder. Oliver required a great deal of therapy, and was receiving both speech therapy and occupational therapy in Terrace, B.C.
In May, Oliver’s mother was diagnosed with ALL (a type of Leukemia). Her treatment requires her to be in Vancouver for the next 1-2 years, so the family relocated from Terrace. They were initially excited to move to a bigger city, thinking it would mean more options for Oliver that weren’t available in Terrace. However, they discovered Oliver’s therapy sessions would no longer be covered, as he aged out of the province’s Early Intervention Therapy Program.
Oliver is now in elementary school and his family is currently unsure of how much help the school is able to provide. Private speech therapy is very expensive, and with his mom and dad both not working, and paying for mom’s leukemia treatments, the sessions are not something they can afford. In August, Variety stepped in to cover two speech therapy sessions a week for the next year for Oliver.
Variety Week on Global BC – Day 2
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