Health and Community Services
November 20, 2014

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Steve Kent, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Community Services:

Introduction of Upopolis to Support Care of Children and Youth

Mr. Speaker, today we celebrated the launch of Upopolis, a social network for young patients which will further enhance the care of children and youth here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Upopolis is a safe and secure online networking site designed to provide patients in children’s hospitals and treatment centres with a place to connect.

As of today, Upopolis will be available at the Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre in St. John’s, the Youth Mental Health Treatment Centre in Paradise, and the Provincial Youth Addictions Treatment Centre in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Hospital stays can often be difficult for small children and youth. The goal of Upopolis is to make the overall experience more comfortable, to allow patients to stay connected with family and friends and to start discussions with other patients in similar situations.

Upopolis provides familiar features of social networking, such as personal profiles, micro-blogging, newsfeed, instant chat, and photo uploading while giving patients the opportunity to stay up to date with schoolwork, and navigate through child-friendly health and wellness information verified and approved by health care professionals.

Upopolis was developed by the Kids’ Health Links Foundation in partnership with Telus. It is the only private, secure and trusted online social network designed for kids and teens receiving medical care in hospitals and youth treatment centres in Canada.

Our government looks forward to the many benefits this new technology will bring to our health care system and the enhancements in overall care for children and youth.

Mr. Speaker, we understand how critical a child’s support network is while receiving care in our facilities and Upopolis enables that safe connection while empowering our young patients by providing access to medical information in a format they can easily access and understand. I encourage all Honourable Members and members of the public to become familiar with Upopolis and the many benefits it will bring to our young patients.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

2014 11 20                                   2:05 p.m.