Pamela Smit, Consultant
Veradus Consulting

Maggie Harkness, Senior Clinical Manager, Rehabilitation Services and Creative Arts Therapy
SickKids

Nisha Krishnan-Patel, Manager, Communication Development and Feeding Services,
CTN

In 2023, Empowered Kids Ontario (EKO) set out to address variability in pediatric feeding and swallowing services (PFSS) for children and youth with physical, developmental and complex medical needs. This large-scale system change process required a flexible, adaptive approach and the dynamic application of lessons learned along the way. The EKO-appointed PFSS Working Group achieved substantial progress toward meaningful, collective system change for children and families resulting in the development of Ontario’s first-ever PFSS Quality Improvement Framework, a comprehensive PFSS gap analysis across 22 Children’s Treatment Centers, and the generation of priorities for change and recommendations for action.