Community Builders Award

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Northern Life Community Builders Award
Celebrating individuals and organizations that make Greater Sudbury extraordinary! 


The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario would like to congratulate Sylvie Kozlowskyj on her Northern Life Community Builders Award of Excellence. She received the 2008 Award in Health Care for her outstanding contributions to her community and to POGO’s pediatric oncology Satellite centre at the Sudbury Regional Hospital.

Families from Sudbury must go to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto or The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa when a child is diagnosed with cancer. The Sudbury Satellite allows aspects of their treatment to be transferred closer to home with equivalent care to the major centres.

Sylvie was nominated by Tanya Charbonneau, whose 2-year-old son, Owen, is a patient at the Regional Cancer Care Program of Sudbury Regional Hospital.

“I am nominating Sylvie because I believe she is not only an outstanding nurse but also a superb human being,” said Tanya. “She feels like a part of our family.”

As a pediatric oncology nurse, her duties in caring for children with cancer and their families range from the administration of chemotherapy and supportive care to the co-ordination of visits between centres and follow-up visits.

Sylvie goes above and beyond in trying to make the experience a personal one. “We become very close to our families as we help them get through this…We get to know the families as a whole, including sisters, brothers, parents and even at times, grandparents.”

“We applaud the dedication that Sylvia and her colleagues have shown in developing and sustaining the pediatric cancer Satellite site in Sudbury” says POGO Executive Director Corin Greenberg.

POGO and its partners at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term care have overseen the evolution of the Satellite Network over 10 years – from zero sites in 1996 to six sites in 2008.