TD BANK GROUP IMPACT REPORT YEAR FOUR

Supporting Better Health for Adolescents

Adolescence is a challenging time for almost everyone. For young people facing significant health issues, this critical developmental stage can be even more complicated. Canada’s children’s hospitals are deeply grateful for the support of TD Bank Group (TD) as they work to help adolescents build foundations for health and thriving on their journey to adulthood.

In 2020, TD, guided by experts, identified six areas of focus for this national collaboration on adolescent health: gender identity, relationships with food, transition to adult care, mental health, chronic conditions, and sexual and reproductive health. In the four years since the collaboration formed, these focus areas have continued to show their relevance – with hospitals identifying important opportunities for impact in all six, and many programs achieving results in multiple areas.

As the impact of support from TD grows, so does the commitment of the TD community. The Million Reasons Run saw extraordinary engagement amongst TD colleagues, friends, and family, with both participation and fundraising results growing significantly year over year.

The entire Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations network is grateful not only for your generosity but for the energy and commitment TD leaders and colleagues have brought to this relationship. On behalf of children’s hospitals across Canada and their associated foundations, I’m proud to share this year’s impact report – a window into the difference your support has made for adolescent health across Canada in 2023.

With gratitude,

Adam Starkman
President & Chief Executive Officer
Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations

Opportunities for Impact

Adolescent Health in Canada

Adolescence is a pivotal developmental period that can set the stage for lifelong health and well-being. As part of the TD-CCHF collaboration, experts in adolescent health have identified six areas of pressing concern in Canada today.

Mental Health

  • According to a 2023 report from Children’s Healthcare Canada, an estimated 1.6 million young people in Canada live with a mental health disorder.
  • Hospitals saw surging demand for mental health care during the pandemic.

Gender Identity

  • Adolescents struggling with gender identity face increased risk of poor health outcomes.

Relationships with Food

  • Serious eating disorders often start in adolescence.
  • Approximately 30% of youth are overweight or obese, putting them at greater risk for chronic diseases.

Transition to Adult Care

  • Youth with health challenges can face increased vulnerability and see their health outcomes deteriorate as they move into the adult system.

Chronic Conditions

  • At least 15% of youth have a chronic condition that affects their health and restricts their activity. Chronic physical conditions can also significantly affect young people’s mental health.

Sexual and
Reproductive Health

  • Adolescents need support in negotiating safe, consensual, healthy sexual practices.
  • Many 2SLGBTQ+ face barriers to accessing relevant sexual health education, as many resources predominantly focus on heterosexual relationships.

TD support is helping Canada’s children’s hospitals make investments in all six areas.

  • TD donates $1 million each year toward CCHF-supported initiatives subject matter experts have identified as the areas of highest priority for young people aged 10 to 18.
  • An additional $500,000 is granted to one or more initiatives focused on adolescent health – such as a new program or a technical innovation with particular benefits for adolescents – in one of the six areas outlined above. See below.

Financial Overview: Year Four

2023 Investment Overview

In 2023, TD Bank Group, along with its colleagues and customers, contributed over $4.42 million to the support, treatment, and care of children and adolescents across Canada. This year’s impressive results are part of a commitment to invest $15 million over 10 years in the physical and mental health of young people on their journey to adulthood.

$4,426,092 Total Funds Raised

Fundraising

Automatic Monthly Deposit $2,321,032
Employee Giving $487,122
Local Sponsorship $50,000
General Fundraising $67,937

Designated Funds

Corporate Donation $1,000,000
Grants $500,000

Million Reasons Run Sets Records

This year once again, TD colleagues and their families, friends and communities came together in support of their local children’s hospitals. We saw record participation in the Million Reasons Run in 2023, as well as impressive fundraising results. 

450

More than 450 participants.

$169,000

TD teams raised about $169,000 in 2023.

100%

Share of regions where TD teams and community members participated. Every children’s hospital in Canada benefited directly from local action.

$38,000

More than $38,000 in matching funds delivered by TD specifically in support of colleagues’ run-related fundraising (over and above other corporate giving through the collaboration). 

TD Pillars

Better Health and the TD Ready Commitment

Better Health is a key priority of the TD Ready Commitment, the Bank’s corporate citizenship platform. As TD works to support the health of adolescents aged 12 to 18 in particular, it focuses on programs that:

  • aim to address health issues of top concern to adolescents.
  • aim to create safe and supportive environments for adolescents during recovery from illness.
  • support adolescents during the transition from pediatric to adult care.

 

The next few sections of this report describe how programs delivered by Canada’s children’s hospitals align with each of these three priorities.

Pillar 1

Issues of Top Concern to Adolescents

Children’s hospitals across Canada believe that excellent clinical care for youth should reflect the priorities and perspectives of young people themselves. From peer support initiatives to programs developed in collaboration with adolescents, hospitals work hard to welcome – and respond to – young voices. A couple of examples:

The Youth CoRE program at Children’s Hospital in London Ontario was shaped by – and receives ongoing guidance from – the Children’s Youth Advisory Council (CYAC). The program connects adolescents receiving inpatient care with peers who have similar lived experience. From learning how to communicate effectively about how they’re doing to simply socializing over a video game, patients receive friendly, informed support from young people who have been in their shoes.

AboutKidsHealth, a website by SickKids whose recent redesign was supported by TD, offers high-quality, vetted content. Based on feedback solicited from teens aged 13–17, the new site favours bullet points over paragraphs and includes larger fonts and more visuals. Articles, illustrations and videos cover topics such as anxiety and depression, (cyber)bullying and substance abuse, menstruation and tampon use, body piercing and tattoos, as well as many others. In 2023, the site’s 154,000+ users accessed over 201,000 resources. A separate learning hub designed for parents and caregivers had an even larger audience (220,000+).

Pillar 2

Safe and Supportive Environments

TD support is helping Canada’s children’s hospitals enhance the safety and comfort of their clinical environments. At the same time, funding from TD is also empowering care teams to provide care and support to young people and their families in a wider range of settings, especially at home.

At CHU Sainte-Justine, TD is helping to support the creation of an ambulatory care centre that will give young patients across Quebec access to the best outpatient care, helping to avoid or shorten hospitalizations and allowing young people to continue living their daily lives at home, close to family and friends. Meanwhile, Alberta Children’s Hospital’s Acute At Home program served about 1,000 youth with significant mental health concerns this year, providing therapy wherever it suited them and their families – including in their homes.

All children’s hospitals across Canada belong to SKIP (Solutions for Kids in Pain), a national network committed to evidence-informed, developmentally appropriate pain management. In 2023, Stollery Children’s Hospital deployed TD support to continue advancing and formalizing its pain management protocols; after a four-year process, the Stollery is preparing to pursue certification through ChildKind International, a not-for-profit organization that certifies hospitals as being pain and distress friendly.

In 2023, CHEO introduced Safety Pods into its treatment spaces. Safety Pods are specially designed beanbags that support safer, more comfortable seated restraint for people experiencing a mental health crisis. TD support helped CHEO to become the first hospital in North America to deploy Safety Pods in pediatric care, training 200 staff members in the safe and effective use of the devices. The pods helped staff members safely de-escalate 99 episodes in 2023.

Pillar 3

Transition to Adult Care

Roughly one in six young people in North America has a chronic health condition. Some have medically complex conditions, or mental or physical disabilities that require specialized care. In 2023, Canada’s children’s hospitals – with help from TD – supported these young people and their families in making safe, confident transitions from pediatric to adult care.

At McMaster Children’s Hospital, 20 to 25 young people whose needs are medically complex are approaching transition to adult care at any given time. TD support is helping a team of experts implement a program for transition-age youth and families. The program focuses on individualized planning for a coordinated transfer of care and effective attachment to adult services. When complete, the program is expected to serve as a model for adolescent patients in other areas of the hospital and beyond.

The IWK’s Me & C3 (Collaborative Clinician Care) program takes a collaborative approach to helping adolescent patients transition to adult care. Engaging young people, their families and their clinical teams in the transition, the program is focused in particular on transgender youth and on young people who are receiving (or have in the past received) care from the hospital’s hematology/oncology teams.

Past | An update from last year’s Annual Initiative Grant Recipient

Building knowledge and skills for healthy development

The Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation

Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation Logo

The Annual Initiative Grant from TD was awarded to The Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation in 2022, in support of three priority projects designed to support healthy adolescent development. Project leaders deployed TD funds to develop, scale, and/or evaluate these initiatives.

  • Dr. Yifeng Wei, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alberta, has used Grant funds to develop and expand access to a school-based mental health literacy program. Having pilot tested the program with more than 3,000 Alberta students, Dr. Wei is now tailoring the offering to a range of cultural groups, aiming to enhance the material’s relevance to Black and Chinese-Canadian students as well as students from Indigenous communities.
  • Funding from the Annual Initiative Grant helped Dr. Andrew Mackie, the leader of the Stollery Cardiac Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SCORE) team, create and test an education program and related app (MyREADYTransitionTM) to help adolescents with congenital heart disease transition from pediatric to adult care. Feedback from program participants suggests improvements in their knowledge and confidence regarding their condition and treatment, as well as an enhanced ability to advocate for themselves.

  • Dr. Kate Storey, a Distinguished Researcher with the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, used Grant funding to expand access to the Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (IYMP). The program is a peer-led, community-based intervention, grounded in the teachings of scholars from Indigenous communities, which has connected thousands of mentors aged 12 to 19 with younger mentees. Program evaluations to date suggest that IYMP participation is associated with a range of benefits, including improved emotional well-being.

Present | This Year’s Annual Initiative Grant Recipient

Type 2 diabetes support that empowers youth from Indigenous communities

The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba

The Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba

In 2023, the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba was grateful to receive funding from TD to expand a program that helps researchers and Indigenous communities work together to support youth living with type 2 diabetes. The $500,000 TD Annual Initiative Grant will help to activate the Institute’s Diabetes Research Envisioned and Accomplished in Manitoba (DREAM) research theme.

Type 2 diabetes is the fastest-growing chronic disease in Canada among children and youth. Access to healthy food and opportunities for active recreation shape young people’s likelihood of developing the condition. In Manitoba, 90% of children living with type 2 diabetes are of First Nations heritage.

Through the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba, TD will support the design of culturally informed interventions to help young people navigate the physical and mental health effects of diabetes. Respectful, collaborative relationships are essential to this work: patient partners, Knowledge Keepers, researchers, and the communities where young people live are all essential contributors.  

One specific intervention the grant will help to expand is a mental health skills-based intervention called Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT). This approach equips young people with practical skills that help to improve their quality of life and their ability to manage their type 2 diabetes, enhancing their well-being and long-term health outcomes.

“This funding will allow DREAM to bring science to community, and community to the forefront of science.”

Terry Klassen, CEO and Scientific Director, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba

Future | A Preview of Next Year’s Annual Initiative Grant Recipient

Supporting refugee and migrant adolescents with special healthcare needs

The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation

Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation

In 2024, the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation will deploy the $500,000 Annual Initiative Grant from TD to support research that examines the impact of patient navigators on refugee and migrant youth with special healthcare needs. Carried out at the Multicultural Clinic of Montreal Children’s Hospital and at the Compass Clinic in Toronto (affiliated with St. Michael’s Hospital), the project will study the effects of patient navigators in helping to ensure that the distinct needs of these young patients are met. Researchers hypothesize that support from navigators may help, for example, to increase access to timely care, empower families, and improve overall quality of life for newcomer youth with special healthcare needs.

Impact Overview

In 2023, TD investments enabled Canada’s children’s hospitals to support better health outcomes for thousands of adolescents. Some TD-supported programs likely had important ripple effects in families and communities, while research and knowledge mobilization efforts may affect many thousands more people for years to come.

1,000 youth gained access to mental health support through Alberta Children’s Hospital’s Acute At Home program. Of these, 63 were referred for Functional Family Therapy (FFT) Program.

325,000+ young people who access care at the Stollery Children’s Hospital stand to benefit from TD-supported pain management advances.

36 adolescents gained new access to family therapy provided by the Strongest Families Institute, with support from Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation.

154,000+ users accessed high-quality, vetted health information through AboutKidsHealth, a SickKids website geared to children and youth.

250,000+ adolescents will access care – for mental health challenges, chronic conditions, and other needs – through the expanding network of OES-supported clinics and programs across Quebec. 

99 episodes involving young people in mental health distress were safely de-escalated using CHEO’s new Safety Pods, eliminating risks to youth and hospital staff.

2,500 youth living with diabetes in BC – and many more across Canada and beyond – stand to benefit from a comprehensive research program at BC Children’s Hospital.

2,000 youth each year are supported through mental health crises – a potentially life-saving intervention – by the TD-supported emergency team at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg Children’s.

350 young people and their families have benefited from a range of group therapy programs delivered by The Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre.

400+ young people were assisted in navigating the stress of hospitalization by Children’s Health Foundation’s (London, Ontario) Youth CoRE program, a peer support program recognized as a leading practice by the Health Standards Organization (HSO).

~400 young people received care through the IWK’s Me & C3 (Collaborative Clinician Care) program – about 180 cancer survivors and 120 receiving gender care.

20–25 youth with medically complex needs will be supported in their transition to adult care through a dedicated program at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

By supporting the programs above, TD contributed to:

  • 4,285 adolescents receiving treatment or care tailored to their needs and life stage;
  • Hundreds of thousands of adolescents having a greater likelihood of better health outcomes because they received important health information, improved pain management, or care informed by TD-supported research.

Thank you, TD

We support 13 Canadian children’s hospital foundations.