Dec 9/09 – Upopolis launches at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital

SickKids receives a healthy dose of social networking just in time for the holidays Introducing Upopolis, Canada's first secure online community connecting kids in hospital

TORONTO, Dec. 9 /CNW/ - Some kids in hospital can't go home for the holidays, but they now have a new way to stay connected to family and friends.

Today, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), TELUS and Kids' Health Links Foundation (KHLF) announce the launch of Upopolis, an online social network designed especially for young patients in hospital. Upopolis aims to make hospital walls virtually invisible between family and friends through the power of social networking. SickKids is the largest centre in Canada to offer this site to its patients.

Created by KHLF and powered by TELUS, Upopolis provides the best features of social networking for young patients, who often feel disconnected when they are in the hospital. It offers personal profiles, personal blogs, instant chat and child-friendly games. The site is a password-protected social network that uses a content-filtering tool and pre-consented contacts to create a secure environment for patients to communicate.

Upopolis also provides unique features to kids in hospital, like a homework site that helps them stay up-to-date with their schoolwork, links to child-friendly health and wellness information, and connections to other children with similar health challenges. The SickKids Child Life Department, which works with patients to help them cope with social and emotional issues associated with being in hospital, uses Upopolis as a therapeutic tool to help patients combat isolation and express their feelings.

"Caring for children is at the heart of everything we do. We are always looking for ways to provide better care and improve the patient experience," says Mary Jo Haddad, SickKids President and CEO. "We are excited by what Upopolis can do to enrich the lives of our patients and support SickKids' approach to family centred-care."

Through a unique partnership with KHLF, TELUS provided the technology to develop and build Upopolis. TELUS continues to provide site expansion, ongoing access to Upopolis, managed web hosting, application support and maintenance services. The TELUS Toronto Community Board also donated $40,000 to help launch Upopolis at SickKids.

"It's an honour to bring Upopolis to SickKids, a world-renowned centre for excellence in paediatric care," said Joe Natale, TELUS President, Consumer Solutions. "Kids are inseparable from technology. They rely on their social networks more than any previous generation. We're excited to champion a partnership that uses the power of technology to bring the virtual world to sick kids at the bedside, keeping them connected to their friends and family when they could feel isolated. It's important all year, and maybe that much more so during the holiday season. At TELUS, we believe that the private sector has a role to play in helping healthcare providers improve the patient experience. We look forward to more days like this when the private and public sectors come together to make a stay in the hospital a little easier for the young patients who matter most."

The online support network was inspired by the hospital experiences of two teenage friends, Christina Papaevangelou and Katy McDonald. In February 2002, Christina was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at McMaster Children's Hospital with a life-threatening illness. Shortly thereafter, Katy was diagnosed with cancer and was at SickKids for an extended period of time. During her hospitalization, Katy often felt disconnected from friends, family and her school. Sadly, Katy lost her battle with cancer. However, their friendship and common experiences inspired Christina to explore ways to help kids in care stay connected.

"It is my dream to expand Upopolis to every children's hospital across the country. We are excited to launch today at SickKids bringing us one step closer to that goal," said Basile Papaevangelou, chairman and founder of Kids' Health Links Foundation. "We were inspired to create Upopolis by the common hospital experiences shared at SickKids and McMaster Children's Hospital. Connecting the kids in care at these two hospitals and others brings to life the vision of the Kids' Health Links Foundation. "KHLF and TELUS launched the first Upopolis program in 2007 at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton and since then it is expanding to other hospitals and healthcare organizations across Canada, including B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver, IWK Health Centre in Halifax, CHEO in Ottawa and Lutherwood in Waterloo. By adapting the TELUS technology, the Upopolis team has developed the system to meet the specific needs of each hospital, whether adding French language capabilities or information specific to mental health.

About The Hospital for Sick Children SickKids is affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country. As innovators, SickKids leads and partners to improve child health provincially, nationally and internationally through the integration of care, research and education, providing the best in complex and specialized family-centred care, groundbreaking scientific and clinical advances, sharing our expertise globally, enhancing an academic environment and championing an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system. For more information, please visit www.sickkids.ca.

About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.6 billion of annual revenue and 11.9 million customer connections including 6.4 million wireless subscribers, 4.1 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 100,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit TELUS.com.

About Kids' Health Links Foundation Kids' Health Links was founded by Basile Papaevangelou and his daughter Christina to connect, through technology, children in health care facilities across Canada with friends and family, their teachers and schoolwork. Kids' Health Links Foundation created Upopolis - an innovative, private online community for children in care. The Kids' Health Links technology solutions help to alleviate stress, isolation and loneliness for children in medical care in order to help children heal faster and better to overcome traumatic medical experiences.

Oct 28/09 – Upopolis launches at Lutherwood in Waterloo, Ontario

Lutherwood’s residential program launches new secure website to connect children with community BY JOHANNA WEIDNER, RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO — Loneliness and isolation are often an extra burden for youth struggling with mental-health issues living in a treatment facility.

They can feel disconnected from friends and family — a problem compounded by the need to limit access to the technology youth depend on to stay in touch with their world. Now Lutherwood’s residential program has a safe way for youth to access the internet. Earlier this week, Lutherwood launched Upopolis, a secure online social networking site for children in specialized and hospital care.

“It’s another really important tool for kids to make a connection with each other and with important people in the community and important people in their lives,” said Lutherwood’s chief executive officer John Colangeli.

The site was created by Kids’ Health Links Foundation, a charity focused on helping children recover through technology solutions, and Telus. The pilot was launched in 2007 at the McMaster Children’s Hospital, and is spreading to hospitals across the country. These children’s facilities normally bar internet access due to concerns about privacy and inappropriate material. Lutherwood in Waterloo is the first children’s mental-health facility in the country to get Upopolis. “This is a wonderful way to have them be in a safe portal that’s designed for them,” Colangeli said.

Upopolis is basically like a specialized version of Facebook. After logging in, youth can email approved contacts and officials, such as welfare workers and probation officers. They can write a personal blog about their experiences or surf approved websites. They can get homework assignments from teachers and read child-friendly information about mental-health conditions.

Colangeli views the portal as a healing tool that will help the youth develop relationships, and eventually make the transition from the residence back into the community. “We’ve got high hopes for it,” he said. Many of the youth come to the facility from broken families, they’ve experienced abuse or struggled in school.

“They’re not really accepted anywhere,” Colangeli said. During their stay at Lutherwood, he said, “we’ve got to give them hope back in their lives.”

Two teenagers living at Lutherwood demonstrated Upopolis at the official launch on Wednesday, both eager to finally have a chance to use the site. They have been away from home for months, and saw Upopolis as a great way to connect again important people in their life. The pair also liked being able to look up information about their condition and treatment, post photos, and surf favorite sites.

May 6/09 – Upopolis launches in English & French at CHEO in Ottawa

CHEO launches kids' social cyberspace in the hospital place Introducing 'Upopolis', Canada's first secure online community keeping kids in hospitals connected to each other.

OTTAWA, May 6 - Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), TELUS and Kids' Health Links Foundation today announce the launch of Upopolis, the first secure online social network for kids in hospital care in Ottawa. CHEO is the first hospital to launch Upopolis in English and French to meet the needs of their bilingual patients.

Created by Kids' Health Links Foundation (KHLF) and powered by TELUS, Upopolis provides the best features of social networking for young patients who often feel disconnected when they're in the hospital. Upopolis provides a personal profile, personal blogs, instant chat and child-friendly games. The site also provides unique features to kids in hospital like a homework site to stay up-to-date with their schoolwork, links to kid-friendly health and wellness information, and connections to other children with the same condition.

"We take in thousands of sick children and youth who have to stay in hospital for extended periods of time. We focus our care on keeping our young patients connected to their family and friends for support," said Michel Bilodeau, President and CEO, CHEO. "We are thrilled to launch Upopolis at our hospital using the power of technology to bring our family-centered care model to the next generation and extending the reach of care beyond the hospital walls."

"Technology has an important role to play in helping Canadian healthcare providers improve the patient experience," said Joe Natale, president, TELUS Business Solutions. "Upopolis brings kids the unique ability to have their world at the hospital bedside, connecting them to family, friends and other patients at anytime, not just during visiting hours. It uses the power of technology to make their hospital stay less isolating, keeping them plugged into the social networks that they depend on more than any other generation before them. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario has a long and deep history for improving the care of children in hospital and we're very pleased to bring Upopolis to this world-class institution."

Through a unique partnership with Kids' Health Links Foundation, TELUS provides the technology to develop and build Upopolis. TELUS continues to provide site expansion, ongoing access to Upopolis, managed Web hosting, and application support and maintenance services.

Kid's Health Links and TELUS launched the program last year at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario and since then it is expanding to other hospitals across Canada, including B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver and IWK Health Centre in Halifax. "Launching Upopolis for the first time in English and French demonstrates how this program is expanding to meet the needs of kids in hospital across Canada," said Basile Papaevangelou, chairman and founder of KHLF. "With the help of our partners and hospitals across the country we will expand the program to extend the reach for kids in care from coast to coast."

The online support network was inspired by the hospital experiences of two teenaged friends, Christina Papaevangelou and Katy McDonald. In February 2002, Christina was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at McMaster Children's Hospital with a life-threatening illness. Shortly after, Katy was diagnosed with cancer and had to be hospitalized for a long period of time, feeling disconnected from friends, family and keeping up with schoolwork. Sadly, Katy lost her battle with cancer. However, their friendship and common experiences inspired Christina to explore ways to help kids in care stay connected.

About CHEO The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario is an academic institution affiliated with the University of Ottawa. Built in 1974, CHEO provides a full spectrum of pediatric services in a family centred model of care to children and youth from Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec aged 0 to 18 years. CHEO is home to the world class Research Institute, the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health and the Ontario Newborn Screening Program. CHEO is an active partner in the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, providing leadership in all aspects of pediatric health and wellbeing.

About Kids' Health Links Foundation Kids' Health Links was founded by Basile Papaevangelou and his daughter Christina to connect, through technology, children in health care facilities across Canada with friends and family, their teachers and schoolwork. Kids' Health Links Foundation created Upopolis - an innovative, private online community for children in care. The Kids' Health Links technology solutions help to alleviate stress, isolation and loneliness for children in medical care in order to help children heal faster and better to overcome traumatic medical experiences.

About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 11.6 million customer connections including 6.1 million wireless subscribers, 4.2 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

April 21/09 – Upopolis arrives at BC Children’s Hospital

BC Childrens’ Hospital patients join online BY GILLIAN SHAW, VANCOUVER SUN APRIL 21, 2009

VANCOUVER — For all the dials and tubes that Kate Mitchell must drag around during her stay at the BC Childrens’ Hospital, a vital piece of electronic equipment has been missing.

That is her Internet-connected laptop computer, an item usually not welcome in children’s wards, where unsupervised access could put kids at risk from cyber-predators and other downsides of the World Wide Web.

They could end up surfing inappropriate websites, dig up difficult, highly technical material about their medical conditions, and even find dangerous information. For example, a patient suffering from anorexia might seek out diet websites.

But those cyber-conditions were cured Monday when the 16-year-old Mitchell signed on to the newly launched Upopolis, a secure and youth-friendly social network that lets patients virtually escape the confines of their beds and their hospital rooms for friendships and fun online.

Delivered through a partnership of the BC Children’s Hospital, the Kids’ Health Links Foundation and Telus, Upopolis is the first secure social network in western Canada for kids in hospital care.

“It’s really exciting,” said Mitchell, who started her own blog on the site during the news conference announcing it, documenting her experience as cameras flashed and reporters pushed microphones forward to catch her words. “You get a laptop in your room, which is really exciting, and you can play DVDs on it too.”

Upopolis, which gives young people their own user interfaces when they sign on, offers Mitchell a range of options, from blogging to online chat, schoolwork and finding both general websites and health information edited to be easily understandable.

“I’ve never had a blog, so that’s really exciting and I can meet people who have the same thing as me,” said Mitchell, who has been in and out of hospital since 2005 with Crohn’s disease.

The site had its beginnings with the experience of two 14-year-old friends who were in hospital in Hamilton, Ont. One, ChristinaPapaevangelou, was in Vancouver on Monday with her father Basile Papaevangelou, founder of Kids’ Health Links and the man behind Upopolis.

The other, Christina’s friend Katy McDonald, never made it out of hospital; she died of a rare form of cancer. She was remembered Monday with Papaevangelou’s announcement of a $40,000 fellowship in child life studies, the first of its kind in Canada. The initial recipient is Vancouver Children’s Hospital.

“The inspiration was my daughter and her friend Katy,” Papaevangelou said in an interview. “My daughter was near death and she survived. It was from toxic shock, a massive blood infection. She was in intensive care.”

He said Katy’s mother told him she had really missed her computer while in hospital.

He learned that most children’s hospitals don’t allow patients unsupervised access to the Internet; few even provide laptops they can use while supervised.

Papaevangelou said while people think the ban has to do with interference with delicate hospital electronics, it has more to do with the risk of cyber-predators “connecting with fragile children.”

With Upopolis, “We essentially put a protective bubble around the child and the only way a child can get out ... is through Upopolis and that channel has to be approved by the hospital and by the parent,” he said.

Upopolis has chat functions and e-mail, but doesn’t allow access to sites such as Facebook. It does let patients connect with others in the network, in the same hospital and in others.

Telus, which donated the system, built it and hosts it in a Telus data centre, donated 20 laptops to BC Children’s and five years of maintenance for them, plus the $40,000 for the child life fellowship.

Telus president Darren Entwistle said linking young people in hospital to their friends, families and communities is a vital part of the healing process. He said Telus will invest $100 million in health care technology over the next three years.

“Despite massive investment, Canada’s health care system is in the midst of a challenge of historic proportions that is impacting every single Canadian,” he said. “This challenge is impacting the way we care for our children, and the way we care for our parents. “I believe that the only way we will answer the challenge of health care affordability and effectiveness is through innovation and investment in information, communications and technology.”

Mar 31/09 – Upopolis launches at IWK Health Centre in Halifax

Donation to IWK children's hospital sets up social networking site for kids By THE CANADIAN PRESS Tue. Mar 31 - 5:36 PM

Atlantic Canada's largest children's hospital has received a donation of $50,000 to help launch a social networking site that allows kids to connect online with their family, friends and schools.

The Upopolis site gives children at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax access to instant messaging and games.

It also allows children to stay up to date with their school work, as well as giving them access to health information and the ability to connect to other children in hospital.

IWK President Anne McGuire says Upopolis lets young patients talk to other children with the same medical conditions and share what they are going through.

The donation is the first that has been made by the Telus Atlantic Community Board, which was set up to help local charitable organizations throughout Atlantic Canada.