'Kids these days': CHEO turning phrase on its head as part of national ad campaign

CHEO has launched a national fundraising campaign called "Kids These Days" as it embarks on a 10-year expansion project to improve medical care for children and their families. (CHEO Foundation/supplied)

Ottawa's children's hospital wants you to know about "kids these days."

CHEO is launching a national ad campaign as part of a $220 million fundraising goal to transform pediatric care at the children's hospital. The CHEO Foundation calls this its "most ambitious fundraising effort ever."

The campaign, which launched Monday, features a new TV spot, radio commercial, out-of-home, digital and social media ads using the oft-repeated phrase "kids these days" in a different way, describing the new challenges facing children in the modern world. 

"The world has changed for kids. It seems harder, scarier, more complicated and they are facing more—and more complex—health issues than ever before. Four out of five Canadians believe that the health challenges kids these days face seem different than those in the past," said Steve Read, CHEO Foundation President and CEO in a news release. "But the good news is that we have a plan at CHEO to start addressing these new issues and this exciting campaign is just the beginning. Together with our donors, we're going to bring solutions that will transform pediatric care."

CHEO is undergoing a major 10-year project to renovate and expand its operations, with the goal of providing more and better services for children and families from eastern and northern Ontario, western Quebec and Nunavut.

"The needs of children and youth today have changed significantly since we opened our doors in 1974," Alex Munter, CHEO President and CEO, said in a statement. "This is why we need to rethink and adapt our space to meet the needs of a growing population of children and youth."

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CHEO's goals over the next 10 years include:

• Creating more mental health spaces and "improving them to address the mental health crisis in our region"
• Expanding key areas such as the Emergency Department, medical imaging and the pharmacy
• Adding more beds and outpatient areas, including a new critical care Step Down Unit for patients who are improving but not yet ready for the medical or surgical wards
• Enhancing diagnostic capabilities, expanding newborn screening and allowing for more breakthrough research by building cutting-edge laboratories
• Overhauling operating rooms to "enable the latest surgical techniques"
• Modernizing research space to improve pediatric care outcomes

The new fundraising campaign features stories of CHEO kids and staff, highlighting the very real issues that kids these days are facing. The TV spot was shot on-location at CHEO, with patients using phrases often used to diminish young people, juxtaposed by images that challenge the stereotypes.

"Actually, kids these days are facing a lot," the ad says, "because the world has changed and so have our health issues. Kids these days could really use your help."

What has changed?

CHEO says kids these days are facing more complex medical needs than ever before, from physical health to mental health. Teen anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations have doubled in the last two decades, the hospital notes. Since the 1970s, when CHEO first opened its doors, it says the number of children with complex care needs has skyrocketed, and more kids are living with physical, developmental and intellectual challenges.

CHEO's Emergency Department was built for 150 visits per day but now welcomes more than 200 patients daily, with an average wait time of more than five hours.

The national campaign will run for the next four months across the country. 

You can donate on the CHEO Foundation's website.