About Us

The Heart & Hands Pediatric Clinic is a non-profit organization created in 2019 to help increase access to health care to residents in underserved communities. We establish clinics inside elementary schools, creating a new health care delivery model in Quebec. Our clinic provides much needed medical services to the Verdun Community, with a focus on the student population at Verdun Elementary School and Riverside Elementary School. The clinic is a result of the partnership and leadership between the education sector (Lester B. Pearson School Board) and the health sector (Montreal Children’s Hospital, Department of Pediatrics).

Our mission is to provide exemplary care to the children and families of underserved communities, by breaking down barriers to enhance access to health care services, through school-based pediatric health centres. With the consent from a child’s guardian, we collaborate with educational staff and local medical professionals, to help meet the unique needs of the children, during a critical developmental stage of their lives. We do this by bringing a wide variety of medical services directly to the patient. Our team is dedicated to caring for this vulnerable population, while continuing to address the psychosocial circumstances that may impact a child’s overall health and development.

Resident Physicians, under the supervision of a hospital-affiliated Pediatrician, lead the career outreach and services provided at the clinic. The clinic acts as an extension of the medical residency program, which facilitates the development of Pediatric Residents as health care ambassadors for these communities and families. Resident Physicians staff the clinic throughout their training, learning about the patients’ unique medical needs and how to address health inequalities and the social determinants of health.