Community Stories

The Stollery No Bounds Week was January 28 to February 4, and we wanted to say thank you for helping us paint the city purple! Many public activations took place throughout the week to help raise awareness for the Stollery No Bounds campaign, with you being our best advocates for a new Stollery.

You can also now buy a Stollery No Bounds T-shirt at the Stollery Kids Store with your Department of Pediatrics discount!

Other exciting news that came out during No Bounds Week was that the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation was chosen as the primary charity partner for the 2026 CPKC Women’s Open. This tournament will be held at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club here in Edmonton, August 19-23. CPKC’s goal is to raise $3.9 million in support of the Foundation, with funds going towards the advancement of the Stollery’s world-renowned cardiac program.

Read more about this exciting announcement.

On March 3rd, Soumen Paul, director of the Center for Organogenesis, Vascular and Perinatal Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center, will share how the first steps of life are controlled at the molecular level, from the cells that build the placenta to the signals that guide stem cells to grow and specialize. His work shows how these early processes set the stage for a healthy pregnancy and baby. 

Learn More & Register

From training the next generation of pediatric specialists to funding state-of-the-art equipment and supporting family-centred care, gifts to the SCHF help give all kids the best chance to live long and healthy lives. Find out more about how donations have transformed pediatric care in the foundation’s annual report to the community.

Read the Report

Pam Thomson-Kai’s son Sawyer was just seven months old when he stopped breathing. He was rushed to hospital, where he was revived and put on a breathing machine. Then the doctors asked his parents whether they could give him a tracheostomy. 

It was a scary decision, but Thomson-Kai and her then husband felt they had no choice because Sawyer’s life was at stake. 

Now, a team at the University of Alberta, including Thomson-Kai and three other parent partners, are working to better understand and create tools to support other parents facing that decision — and all of the challenges that come with it. In their recently published paper in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, the U of A team looked at the best research available on the emotional, practical and ethical considerations for families who have to decide whether to give their child a tracheostomy. They analyzed 17 studies and identified seven themes, including finding hope, paying the bills, navigating changing relationships and adjusting to a new normal for life at home. 

Principal investigator Maria Castro-Codesal, an associate professor of pediatrics and expert on home ventilation, credits the four parent partners on the team with refocusing the research away from just one decision point to broader questions about what families need at every step of the process.

Read More.

The Board of Trustees for the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation are thrilled to announce the appointment of Karen Faulkner as President & CEO, effective immediately. Highly regarded as a relationship builder, Karen brings with her a wealth of knowledge and more than 30 years of progressive development experience. With a career that spans both the corporate and charitable sectors, Karen has led multiple teams through organizational change and transformational campaigns at RBC, TELUS and NorQuest College. Karen has dedicated over a decade to advancing kids' health as the Foundation's Chief Operating Officer and, most recently, as the Interim President and CEO.

The U of A Community Pantry opened in Rutherford Library in January 2024 after a year of planning. The Pantry is meant to fill a specific gap in food access on campus: confidential, anonymous, and drop-in access to healthy food! 

The U of A Campus Pantry is looking for units, departments, student groups, and other collections of people who are willing to adopt the pantry for one week. Adopting the pantry means committing to collectively fundraise, then purchase and drop off food throughout the week by sharing the work within your group and broader networks. You can read all about the experience in their Adopt-a-Week Guide for Supporters before signing up. The Campus Food Bank team has developed resources and guidance for logistics and promotions that will be shared once you sign up.