Lisa Bilissis

Together Let's Step Up for Mental Health and Help Kids in Crisis.

Amid the isolation and disruption of COVID, the number of youth in crisis has increased, up to four times higher than usual. On any given day, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre's (RVH) Emergency Department sees three children in a mental health crisis. Each year more than 3,000 young people from across the Simcoe Muskoka region access mental health care at RVH.

These numbers add up to a serious challenge facing young people in our region, and they gave me more than 3,000 reasons to sign up for RBC Race for the Kids.

Please join me as I raise funds to help provide a customized space within RVH's Emergency Department that is private and calming, with direct and immediate access to staff who specialize in managing the care of young people in crisis - easing the stigma often felt with emergency visits.

Together, we can help ensure patients have the right care when and where they need it, close to home. Together, we can step up for the mental health and well-being of young people in our community.

Thank you from me and all the RBC Race for the Kids participants and charities!

#RBCRacefortheKids