Martin (Hai) Qiu, Speech and Language Therapist, HCPC Registered (Consultant), LIH Olivia’s Place Shanghai

Last month, we were invited to participate in the Pediatric Innovation Forum at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. The LIH Olivia’s Place Director of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Dr. Susan Cadzow, Shanghai Lead of Speech and Language Therapy Ms. Sophia Guarracino, and Speech and Language Therapist Mr. Martin Qiu attended the forum accompanied by LIH Healthcare public relations and translation staff members, Ms. Heidi Gao and Mr. Louis Liu.

In the forum, Dr. Michael Mintz, PsyD, from Children’s National Health System, gave a presentation on ‘Neurodevelopmental outcomes for children with congenital heart defects’ to share his experiences working with children with congenital heart defects in Washington D.C. Dr. Zhang Yiwen also presented about the ‘Cooperation of medicine and education for children with Down syndrome in Shanghai’ to discuss the recent reformation of pediatric care in local communities.

These two speakers shared their experiences from two different countries in different fields of pediatric care. However, they both emphasized the essence of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) model of care for achieving the best outcome for the child. Dr. Mintz shined some light on the care pathway involving multiple health care professions, such as speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. Whereas, Dr. Zhang discussed cooperation on a larger scale, between the health care professions and education department.

These perspectives fit perfectly with our core vision at LIH Olivia’s Place, to enable all people of China to access high-quality, evidence-based, inter-disciplinary rehabilitation services. More recently, following the latest evidence, LIH Olivia’s Place has developed multi-disciplinary assessments which are financially accessible for more families. Many of the families who are now able to obtain assessment and subsequent treatment are families from local communities with a child with complex needs. The MDT model ensures better communication between disciplines so that clinicians can understand the child’s strengths and weaknesses clearly. Only then can the team make an accurate diagnosis and provide effective family-centered treatment plans.

LIH Olivia’s Place will continue to be devoted to enabling more families to access high-quality, evidence-based, inter-disciplinary pediatric services. We strongly believe that working closely with other disciplines and local communities can help us to achieve this mission.