Last year, nearly 66-thousand children visited the emergency department at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.  For the last 19 weeks, CTV Ottawa and CHEO have joined forces to help parents find ways to keep their children healthy, fit and hopefully out of the hospital.  Our CHEO Healthy Kids Series wrapped up today with an awards ceremony hosted live on CTV News at 6.

Having a child in the hospital can be overwhelming for any parent.

“She’s so young, so very easy to pick up germs,” says new mother Tina Tam in our feature on fevers.  Her newborn baby was in hospital with influenza. Many of CHEO's doctors helped us understand in our series when to bring your child to the hospital - whether it was for fever, flu or vomiting.  CHEO Emergency Physician Dr. Sarah Reid told us in our story on Emergency visits, "If you've done what you can and your child still looks sick and sleepy, that's a child we need to see for sure.”  We highlighted how CHEO's varied professionals help kids cope with their own illness. Isabelle Sjoberg, an Interlink nurse with CHEO explained to 5-year-old cancer survivor Jenna Schroeder and her big sister what cancer was.

“Cancer is about cells and something happens to one little cell and we don't know why.”

While we can't prevent many of the illnesses our children face, we can reduce their risk.  Tyler Lisacek and neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Vassilyadi helped us understand head injuries and the importance of helmets, with a cool egg drop experiment.

“You can see how easy it is to injure the brain,” explained Dr. Vassilyadi, as he poked at a blob of jello in the shape of a brain.  Much of our series was devoted to helping parents improve the health of their children so they wouldn't need a trip to CHEO.

Dr. Ken Farion, CHEO’s Medical Director of Emergency, told us "We want to work with the community to make sure our kids are staying healthy, staying fit and out of hospital.”

Making the in-hospital experience easier for kids is critical whether it was flu shots or dental work. 

Keeping our teenagers healthy and happy was a big focus.  19-year-old Jessica Mahusky shared with us her battle with anorexia, a battle she had won. 

“The eating disorder is all about control,” she told us, “it likes to control you and your life.  It comes across as your best friend but meanwhile, it’s your worst enemy and killing you inside.”

Cassandra Rousseau helped us understand anxiety in teens.  For seven years, she had such worrying thoughts, it made her sick. 

“When it gets bad,” she told CTV, “I ended up pulling at my eyebrows, my eyelashes and my hair.”  The 14-year-old says group therapy at CHEO helped her manage her anxiety and face up to her fears.

We heard Hanna Brunsdon's heartbreaking struggles with cyberbullying.

“I let myself believe what they said,” recalls Brunsdon, “that I was a loser, that I was ugly and didn’t deserved to be dated by someone.” 

CHEO says it's goal in this series was simple but important.

Dr. Carrol Pitters is CHEO’s Chief of Staff, "Our vision is that we want to help kids and families be their healthiest.”

   The hospital says if it has made the difference in the lives of one family through these stories -- then it is one healthier, happier family.