Since it began in 2008, this event has been organized by active, healthy young people for other, less fortunate youngsters.
An initiative of the private schools of Greater Montreal, the Défi-jeunesse 1km mobilizes the student community in participating schools to take part in a sports activity while raising funds for Sainte-Justine. In 2010, 11 schools participated, with over 10,000 students walking or running. To date, 42 private schools (41 francophone and one bilingual) have already registered to take part in the fall 2011 Défi.
Above all, the Défi is an expression of solidarity, uniting almost 33 114 students in a show of support for the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre (UHC) and its young patients.
Shortly after returning to school this fall, your children will be asked to make a difference in the lives of sick children by running or walking 1 km or more and seeking sponsors for their effort. For the healthy youngsters participating, it will be child’s play, but for the sick children who are unable to take part, it will stand as a touching gesture of solidarity and a strong display of humanity and compassion.
Think about it: 1 km at a time, children making a difference for children. All told, the Défi participants will travel over 120,000 km to move paediatric care at the CHU Sainte-Justine a giant step forward. Every kilometre counts! And so we say to your children: thank you for every step you take because together, we can make a difference!
By participating in this challenge, your children will be doing their part to maximize the total number of kilometres travelled by their school, and the total proceeds that will be turned over to the Sainte-Justine UHC Foundation to help fund the E.V.A. project (encadrement virtuel en anesthésie), a vital project in anaesthesiology.
What’s more, your children will feel extremely proud when they see the incredible impact their gesture and those of their friends will have.
We are counting on you to encourage and motivate your children in their efforts to raise money, by accompanying them when they go door-to-door seeking sponsors or helping them create their own fund-raising Web pages to collect donations online via the 1km.org site.
You will also need to help them prepare on the actual morning of the Défi. Make sure they eat a good breakfast, that they are wearing proper footwear and sunscreen, and that they take some energy bars and a bottle of water with them.
Lastly, your support and presence as either a volunteer or corporate sponsor (supplying drinks or snacks, for example) would be greatly appreciated on the day of the event.
And remember to give generously and to encourage your family, friends and co-workers to do the same!
You undoubtedly know a child who has received care at Sainte-Justine UHC. You know only too well that all it takes is a bad burn, a skiing accident, a degenerative disease or a car accident for a baby or child to land in the hospital and sometimes even on the operating table. Surely this is one of the most difficult and traumatizing moments for both child and parents! However, as parents, you also have the comfort of knowing that once your child is anaesthetized, he or she will no longer suffer during the entire operation.
This is where your child’s participation in the Défi-jeunesse comes into play, because it will give the Sainte-Justine UHC the means to acquire a state-of-the-art work tool called E.V.A. (encadrement virtuel à l’anesthésie).
E.V.A. will serve as the anaesthetist’s new, virtual right arm, which is so vital in paediatrics, because two heads are better than one when it comes to monitoring young anaesthetized patients.
Among other things, E.V.A. will manage a number of variables—for example, it will monitor vital functions—in addition to recording them automatically. Thanks to this state-of-the-art machine, anaesthetists will be able to focus their entire attention on their young patient. And because E.V.A. will keep them better informed, they will be able to make faster, more specific decisions to limit the side effects and the risk of allergic reactions and errors. In other words, E.V.A. has the power to save lives… and to move paediatric care giant steps forward.
With your children’s help and your support, E.V.A. could be up and running as early as 2012 in the 21 rooms where anaesthesia is used at CHU Sainte-Justine!