FRANCAIS

April 27, 2004

A new approach to provide $580,000 in additional therapy services for children, youth and their families was announced today by Family Services and Housing Minister Christine Melnick, on behalf of the Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet.

“This increased support will help meet the demand for more children’s therapy services and see improvements to existing services for the children of Manitoba,” said Melnick. “We are following up on recommendations for improvements based on consultations with major stakeholders from across the province.”

The new children’s therapy initiative is based on a series of pilot projects carried out in Winnipeg and Brandon, as well as in the Central and Norman regions. The new approach will improve delivery of existing therapy services to help children reach their full potential through better collaboration between stakeholders, resulting in a more effective provision of services. Areas to be improved include occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech language therapy and audiology services for children.

“We look forward to additional progress toward more co-ordinated therapy services to better meet the needs of children and families,” said Healthy Living Minister Jim Rondeau, minister responsible for Healthy Child Manitoba.

Over the past year, the pilot projects identified possible solutions to challenges for existing therapy services for children, including a need for better co-ordination of services and more funding to create additional services.

The new initiative is funded jointly by Manitoba Family Services and Housing, Manitoba Health and Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth.

- 30 -