UPOPOLIS Announces Canada-Wide Launch Event
Making cyber-safe connections even easier for paediatric patients across Canada
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, Ontario – The Kids’ Health Links Foundation (KHLF) is pleased to announce its Canada-wide launch event to be held June 18th, celebrating the release of the newly redesigned and revamped Upopolis 2.0, a private online social network available exclusively to paediatric patients in hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout Canada.
Developed in partnership with TELUS Health, the new UPOPOLIS 2.0 makes it even easier for hospitalized youth to connect with one another, with family and with friends.
“The idea for UPOPOLIS was inspired by my daughter’s near-death experience in 2002, followed in 2004 by the death of a close friend of hers after an extended battle with cancer,” says Kids’ Health Links Foundation co- Founder and President Basile Papaevangelou. “Both required lengthy hospitalizations, creating a sense of isolation and loneliness at times, which is often the experience of hospitalized kids and teens. At its core, UPOPOLIS was created to help paediatric patients connect with family and friends and to also enable them to form new ones with patients at other hospitals and healthcare facilities. We’re honored to be able to work with Telus and our hospitals and healthcare facilities to offer UPOPOLIS 2.0 to these young people.”
Along with its psycho-social benefits, UPOPOLIS users can share photos, chat, play games and much more. A particularly important feature of UPOPOLIS is its kid-friendly medical content. Written specifically for kids & teens and reviewed and verified by medical professionals, this library of information allows paediatric patients to learn more about their medical conditions and treatments.
“At TELUS, we take pride in connecting millions of Canadians with the people and information that matters most to them. For us, helping connect hospitalized kids with a safe and secure social network is an extension of that,” said Paul Lepage, President of TELUS Health. “Our commitment is to provide the best healthcare information technology solutions in Canada and leverage our unparalleled telecommunications network to give healthcare providers life-saving reach nation-wide from coast to coast to coast. We consider it a privilege to support ground-breaking initiatives like UPOPOLIS because we care about turning information into better health outcomes for all Canadians.”
Hospitals that are part of the UPOPOLIS network and that will be participating with in-hospital events on June 18th include: The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, ON; McMaster Children’s Hospital, Hamilton, ON; IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS; Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), Ottawa, ON; Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON; CHU Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre, Montréal, QC; and Children's Hospital London Health Sciences Centre, London, ON.
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At the Kids’ Health Links Foundation (KHLF), our mission is to use technology to alleviate the stress, isolation and loneliness of children in medical care, and keep them connected with their family, friends and school community.
We believe that positive emotional well-being can be fostered by maintaining family connections and encouraging active social participation. By providing technology that enables this well-being, we hope to help children heal faster and better overcome traumatic medical experiences. For more information about the Kids’ Health Links Foundation and UPOPOLIS, visit www.kidshealthlinks.org.
