The Case for Social Prescribing - Macleans.ca

In the spring of 2024, my then-nine-year-old daughter, Orla, had emergency neurosurgery in Toronto—twice—for a sudden brain infection. She received months of world-class hospital care that included teams of neurosurgery and infectious-disease specialists, round-the-clock observation and nursing, high-tech MRIs and custom prosthetics, and we never received a bill. That’s what Canadian health care is known for. But just as important was the social care that helped Orla regain her love of life after losing—and then working to regain—control over the left side of her body. She got access to therapeutic clowns, an accessible garden, therapy dogs, music, playtime with friends and an in-hospital school. Some of her inpatient friends even received help with essentials like food, housing, counselling and family income. In their hospital rooms, each child had a whiteboard where they and their families wrote and drew under the prompt, “What matters to me?” This helped them turn the page from “Wha

In the spring of 2024, my then-nine-year-old daughter, Orla, had emergency neurosurgery in Toronto—twice—for a sudden brain infection. She received months of world-class hospital care that included teams of neurosurgery and infectious-disease specialists, round-the-clock observation and nursing, high-tech MRIs and custom prosthetics, and we never received a bill. That’s what Canadian health care is known for. But just as important was the social care that helped Orla regain her love of life after losing—and then working to regain—control over the left side of her body. She got access to therap