Sheridan Nurseries Becomes Presenting Sponsor of Upedia.ca, the Premiere Online Resource for the Child Life Profession

Toronto, Ontario… In a new and exciting partnership, Sheridan Nurseries, Canada’s largest garden centre retailer and grower, is now Presenting Sponsor of Upedia.ca (Upedia)– an international online community and peer-reviewed psychosocial resource library developed for child life specialists to share knowledge and practices that best support and enhance a child and their family’s ability to cope with health care experiences.

Developed by Kids’ Health Links Foundation (KHLF) specifically for child life specialists and those affiliated with child life, Upedia gives professionals the opportunity to spend less time developing and researching effective programs, resources and promising interventions, and more time directly serving the children, youth and families they work with. This unique platform breaks down resource silos to build a virtual community of professionals, supporting them in their commitment to the psychosocial development of children, and aiding them in their work to help children and their families cope with the challenges of hospitalization and illness.

Upedia’s registered members include child life specialists and individuals from related professions from over 200 organizations throughout North America and globally. Upedia’s library of resources began with the submission of content contributions from some of Canada’s leading pediatric institutions, including The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, IWK Health Centre in Halifax, BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. These pioneering content contributors had a desire to engage in knowledge-exchange and saw Upedia’s vision of removing the barriers to information-sharing within the child life community in order to better serve children and families. Upedia prides itself on its relevancy and ensuring the most current and validated resources, research, clinical tools and interventions are available to help support it’s users and advance the practice of child life.

Karl. E. Stensson, CEO & President at Sheridan Nurseries said, “As one of the few family-owned businesses still operating in Canada after 100+ years, we believe one of the keys to our success has been our belief in the importance of supporting those in our community and more specifically, children. The ability to do so is a result of the passion, commitment and dedication by our entire team to achieve our charitable goals in all areas of our business.” Stensson added, “Kids Health Links Foundation is a child-focused charitable organization with a very low administration fee which ensures the maximum amount of our donation dollars goes directly to supporting the children. We are very proud to support Upedia, an important and valuable online resource for child care professionals, and an extension of the KHLF initiatives.”

“It’s because of the heart and vision of companies like Sheridan Nurseries that programs like Upedia have a chance to fulfill their potential and make their greatest impact,” said Kids’ Health Links Foundation Chairman and Co-founder, Basile Papaevangelou. “As a major supporter of KHLF over the last five years, Sheridan’s presenting sponsorship of Upedia solidifies our important partnership and demonstrates the company’s deep rooted commitment to supporting the well-being of children in the communities in which they serve.”

Sheridan Nurseries’ partnership will help expand the Upedia Webinar Series, which was created in 2012 in response to an expressed need by child life specialists for more accessible and practice-specific professional development opportunities. In the recent past, Upedia webinars have included critical topics such as, “Pediatric Palliative Care”, “Supporting Children with Autism in a Health Care Setting”, and “Child Development and Chronic Illness.” Sheridan Nurseries’ sponsorship dollars will also help Upedia continue to grow its online collection of over 1600 practical tools, promising interventions and valuable resources developed by child life specialists in hospitals and other health care organizations across Canada.

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About Upedia
Upedia is a national knowledge-exchange initiative and dynamic online community for child life specialists and those affiliated with the child life profession. With ongoing content contributions from pediatric care centres across Canada, child life professionals can access resources, connect and share practical tools, knowledge, and participate in online training to help them best support and enhance a child’s ability to cope with health care experiences. It is an initiative launched and supported by Kids' Health Links Foundation (KHLF). For more information, visit www.upedia.ca.

About Kids’ Health Links Foundation
Kids’ Health Links Foundation was founded by Basile Papaevangelou and his daughter Christina to foster initiatives focused on alleviating the stress, isolation and loneliness for kids and teens undergoing medical care so that they might be better able to overcome traumatic medical experiences. For more information about Kids’ Health Links Foundation please visit www.kidshealthlinks.org.

About Sheridan Nurseries
Sheridan Nurseries has been a grower and purveyor of quality plant material for the landscape industry and gardening public since 1913. With a proud heritage and legacy for innovation, Sheridan Nurseries has grown to be one of Canada’s largest growers of hardy nursery plants and has eight Garden Centres in the Greater Toronto Area. Growing over 1200 cultivars of perennials and hardy nursery stock on 350 hectares in Halton Hills, Ontario, Sheridan Nurseries ships 1.8 million plants annually to markets across North Eastern North America. For more information, visit www.sheridannurseries.com.

For more information, please contact:

Upedia, Jessica Miller-Poesch, 780-680-9418, jessica@kidshealthlinks.org

Kids’ Health Links Foundation, Basile Papaevangelou, 647-880-3037, basile@kidshealthlinks.org

Sheridan Nurseries, Valerie Stensson, 416-798-7970, vstensson@sheridannurseries.com